Talon Marks on a Far Moon: Volume 1
by The Scifanac
Summary: Bereft of his parents and mortally injured for life by death eaters, Tallon Xavier Farmoon is forced to live in an Orphanage. But Hogwarts has a way of changing things for young witches and wizards and not necessarily for the better.Orig Charctr Fic! R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Tallon Farmoon

Talon Marks on a Far Moon

By The Scifanac

Volume 1

Dedicated to the world of Harry Potter,

its millions of fans world wide,

and the brilliant witch who created it, J. K. Rowling.

Special thanks to my cousin

who introduced me to the world of Harry Potter fan fiction

and helped me write this story.

Volume 1, Chapter 1: Tallon Farmoon

_"Reducto!"_ The voice rang out in the still night air and next second the front door of the Farmoon house was blasted in and shattered on the floor in a thousand tiny wooden splinters. A man and a women were standing in the empty door way, both of them holding wands and advancing through the threshold.

"Sarah, go, take Tallon and get out of here!" said another man's voice, a gentler, closer sounding voice than the man who had just shouted the spell.

Tallon felt a pair of hands close around him and pick him up, carrying him into the kitchen and away from the scene.

_"Stupify!"_ The man with the gentler voice shouted. There was a flash of red light from the living room. Tallon was being hid by his mother behind the stove in the kitchen. Then a cold, cruel voice shouted, _"Incarcerous!"_ followed by a muffled scream and then the cruel voice spoke again, "Take his wand Bella."

Then an equally cruel female voice said, "Yes Rodolphus"

"Alex," Tallon's mother whimpered trembling. She picked up Tallon again and headed for the stairs that lead to the second floor

Tallon heard the cruel male's voice trail away as it said, "Now, tell me what I want to know, Alex Farmoon."

Tallon was now at the top of the stairs in his mother's arms. She was looking out of a window down onto the back yard. Two hooded figures were approaching the house, golden lights emanating from the tips of their wands. One of them looked up and seemed to spot Tallon's mother through the window. He pointed her out to his fellow who directed his wand at the window. The last thing Tallon saw that night was the window shattering as the spell, from the man in the back yard, hit it. There was a sudden unbearable excruciating pain in his eyes as if someone had stabbed needles through them. The pain was so intense that he was blinded.

Tallon rocked in his mother's arms as she ran along. A few seconds later, there was a loud bang and another sound like a wooden door being blasted apart. Tallon's mother shouted, _"Expeliarmus!"_

Almost immediately, her spell was followed by another, shouted by a rough male voice, _"Incarcerous!"_ Tallon felt himself fall to the floor then after a few seconds picked up again. Then he was dropped onto a soft surface and more voices could be distinctly heard.

"What do you want with us?" shouted Talon's mother's voice.

"Don't tell them anything Sarah," said the gentle male voice.

"Quiet!" snarled the cruel male voice menacingly, "Rabastan, Barty, restrain her."

Tallon could hear his mother struggling as some of the intruders fought to keep her still, but he couldn't see a thing. The pain in his eyes was still so intense that he was sightless. It felt as though red hot pokers had been stuck in his eyes and no matter how much he rubbed them no matter how much he screamed and wailed in agony, they were not coming out. But the man with the cruel voice seemed not to care that Tallon was howling in pain and he spoke again, "I know that you have information about the whereabouts of our fallen master. Surrender that information or we will rest it from you by force."

"No, Rodolphus," said the gentle male voice, bitterly and defiantly, "I won't let you restore Voldemort to power."

Tallon heard a hiss among the intruders and one of them spitting, then Rodolphus whispered, "You dare say the Dark Lord's name, Alex? You? Being the filthy mudblood you are?

"Yes," said Alex, "I do." There was long deathly pause, then Alex shouted, "No, not Sarah, no, stop-"

_"Crucio!"_

Alex and Sarah screamed so loudly that they flushed out Tallon's wails of pain but then Tallon found the he was screaming louder too, not just in pain now but in horror as well. Although he didn't fully understand what was going on, he knew without knowing how he knew that both his parents were in just as much pain as he was. The screaming seemed to go on forever, like a never ending wave of terrible noise fueled by pain. Suddenly he heard his mother's screaming stop but his fathers was still terribly horrifying and grotesque.

Through the hollering, Rodolphus's cruel, quiet voice said, "I was foolish to think for an instant that you would give me what I seek. But be assured that this excursion of ours tonight will not have been in vein. When we are finished here two, no, three, of the Dark Lord's greatest enemies will be dead." Alex stopped screaming. Then there was a second of quivering silence.

Then Sarah screamed, "Noooo!" just as Rodolphus cried, _"Avada Kedavra!"_ There was a rushing sound and flash of blinding green light so bright that Tallon could even see its glare through the blinding pain in his eyes. There was a long terrible total silence, Tallon even stopped wailing, but he was trembling and whimpering in pain and horror and so apparently was his mother. No other sound could be heard, Sarah's stricken sobs and sniffs seemed to be intruding upon a terrible ringing that was filling the room.

Suddenly Rodolphus's voice sounded, seemingly breaking the stillness like rudely interrupting a trance. "It seems pointless to ask," he said, sounding slightly amused, "But where is my master, Sarah Weasley?" Another drawling silence. Then Rodolphus's voice rang out again, "Tell me, blood traitor!" He shouted, "Or suffer the death of you only son," his voice ended in a low cruel growl.

"NO, no, stop, not Tallon, not Tallon. I'll do anything," panted Sarah.

"That's right," Rodolphus spoke in a horribly sardonic drawl, "That's right. Now where is the Dark Lord?!"

"He's…," Sarah said shakily, "He's." Suddenly Tallon felt rather than saw his mother look at him for a fraction of a second and, though he couldn't explain how or why, he felt his heart lift the tiniest bit.

Then there was a quick ripping noise and a sound like a swallow. "NO!" shouted Rodolphus, "Filthy Blood Traitor!" he raged, "Worthless Scum! Come Back, Come Back and tell me what I want to know!"

"Rodolphus, calm down," said the cruel female voice soothingly, "She did herself justice, the blood traitor, and besides, there are others who might know about our master's whereabouts, the Longbottoms are not far from here."

"Very well," said Rodolphus still sounding furious.

"What of the baby, Rodolphus?" said the rough male voice.

There was silence then Rodolphus said softy, "Tallon Farmoon is the byproduct of a mudblood and a blood traitor, Rabastan. His very existence shames our master and our cause. We shall have some fun with him before killing him." Helpless, still unable to see what was happening because of the blinding agony in his eyes, Tallon waited in terror, waited for something to happen, _"Pingeramortis!"_

Without warning pain exploded in Tallon's right arm, pain so powerful that it drowned out the pain in his eyes. It was unimaginable, unendurable, positively paralyzing agony. He was screaming louder than he had screamed all night. It felt as if the skin on his right arm was being melted, mutated, altered in ways that human skin was never meant to be. Even though already blinded, everything around Tallon was whiting out. The world seemed to be dissolving into nothingness, and the screaming voice was changing, it sounded as if it was growing older and at the same time it was getting closer, more familiar. Tallon could hear the screaming coming out his own mouth. He sat bolt upright still screaming. But then he stopped and opened his eyes. Although the room was very dark he could see that he was sitting upright in bed in the middle of a fairly small room. He closed his eyes again and took a deep steadying breath. He had only been dreaming, it wasn't real.

Or at least, just now it had been a dream. What he was dreaming did indeed happen. Ten years ago, four Death Eaters had come to his house, Rodolphus Lestrange and his brother Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus's wife Bellatrix and Barty Crouch Jr. They had come to Tallon's house believing that his parents had information regarding the whereabouts of their master, Lord Voldemort. Mere months before that, Voldemort had been vanquished by the most unlikely person in the world. A one year old baby by the name of Harry Potter. Voldemort had tried to kill Potter but the curse rebounded off him and back at Voldemort and there after, Voldemort was defeated and vanished. Harry Potter survived with nothing but a lightning shaped scar on his forehead and had gone to live with his aunt and uncle, who were supposedly muggles.

But some of his Death Eaters had tried to find Voldemort and restore him to power. And after deciding that Tallon's parents didn't have any information about Voldemort after all, Rodolphus Lestrange had killed his father, Alex Farmoon, with the _"Avada Kedavra"_ curse. His mother, Sarah Farmoon, had then taken her own life with a tiny, poisonous ball that she swallowed. Tallon had wondered a lot why she did that. He settled often on the idea that she had killed herself to prevent the Death Eaters from getting any information from her as it was the only explanation he could think of. And he reasoned that he had felt his mother looking at him in the last moments of her life as if in reassurance that everything would be alright.

Rodolphus had then cast a scar on Tallon's right arm and it was the memory of this that had awoken him. He didn't remember very much about what happened after that. What he knew had been told to him after the whole thing was over. Right after Rodolphus had finished giving Tallon the tattoo, the Aurors had shown up and drove away the Death Eaters but they were unable to capture them. The house was nearly destroyed in the struggle. He had been also told that it was only after the Death Eaters had tortured the Longbottoms into insanity, a week later, that they were caught and sentenced to life in Azkaban.

Tallon had been taken to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries to have the scar Rodolphus gave him examined. As he was only a year old at the time, he didn't understand what was happening when they had set him down on a soft table and poked painfully at his scar. And it wasn't until he was seven did the Auror called Mad-eye Moody explain to him fully everything that had happened on and following the night his parents died. For he was one of the Aurors that had drove the Death Eaters away from his house.

His scar was a receptor of pain, Moody told him. The healers at St. Mungo's concluded that whenever the Dark Mark was near him the scar on his arm would hurt. How badly and what exactly it would feel like they could not know. They also said that the skin would never heal fully and the curse on it would never wear off entirely.

Tallon never had any other vivid recollections of his parents, except for one. He must have been an infant because he couldn't remember very much about it. All he remembered was his parents' faces, smiling as they held him close to them. His mother with long flaming red hair, a short nose, a full-lipped mouth and deep gray eyes and his father, with messy dark brown hair, pale blue eyes and a prominent chin, nose and ears

Tallon got out of his bed and went to the oil lamp, turned the gas knob and slowly orange light flooded over the room illuminating it. The room was almost perfectly square shaped. The bed was placed opposite a wall, facing the door. On each of the other opposite walls was a desk scattered with old books and slips of parchment on one of the walls and a tall, hansom, wooden wardrobe on the other. On each side of the wall against which the back of the bed was propped, there was a small window looking out onto the countryside. Tallon went over to the mirror which was on the side of the wardrobe closer to his bed and examined his own reflection.

Tallon Farmoon's overall appearance is slightly alarming at first glance, perhaps because of the fact that he had a number of very distinguishing features. He was slightly shorter than average for eleven years old and quite skinny but lean and sleekly built. He had long arms and legs with somewhat bony fingers. He could see the scar on his right arm glinting eerily half in shadow from the light of the lamp. It was green and shaped like a human skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth like an obscene tongue. Tallon's faced looked like an exact half and half mixture of his parents. His large ears and chin were the image of his father's but his mouth was just like his mother's and his nose looked like an exact middle between his parents'. He had a thick, flat-laying sprawl of very dark, untidy brown hair but if he looked closely he could see a slight underlying tint of red among the near-blackness. He had eyebrows that matched his hair perfectly. His eyes were his most distinguishing feature. They were blue like the sky on a bright summer's day but they had an oddly shinning crystal like quality about them. They looked like blue stained diamonds, tiny blue stained glass windows stuck in his eyes. Tallon stood there gazing into the reflection of his own eyes reminiscing about how they had come to be like that.

On the night Rodolphus and the Death Eaters came to his house, a window was shattered in the commotion and very tiny shards of glass had flown into his eyes. The healers at St. Mungo's had tried to remove the shards by magic but were unsuccessful saying that there was no way to remove them without doing permanent catastrophic damage to his eyes. They had said that there was a chance that they might just come out by themselves, although they couldn't see how that might happen. Tallon had been blinded for three and a half years after the night the shards of glass flew into his eyes. But, eventually the pain wore off and when he regained his sight, he discovered after a few weeks of experimenting, that if he concentrated hard enough, he could position the shards of glass within his own eyes so that they enhanced his vision. He could magnify his sight to various degrees and he was in general more sensitive to light and had an easier time seeing in the dark than most people. This affect worked in reverse though too, any light that came directly at his eyes was intensified by the glass shards so it caused him more pain in his eyes than ordinary people.

A loud bell sounded somewhere in the distance. Tallon opened his wardrobe, changed out of his pajamas and into a pair of baggy navy jeans and a red shirt, opened a small hidden compartment on the back of the wardrobe and pulled out his most prized possession. A necklace with a two inch baby dragon tooth pendant. It had belonged to his father and was recovered from the wreckage of his house after the Death Eaters had fled. Moody had passed it on to him when he told Tallon exactly what had happened that night. Tallon placed the pendant around his neck and made for the door of his room.


	2. Chapter 2: The Orphanage of Diagon Alley

Volume 1, Chapter 2: The Orphanage of Diagon Alley

Tallon stepped out of his room into a long hall way dimly lit by the pale morning light that shone through a large window at its end. On the opposite end of the hall was a wide descending staircase. Tallon's room was situated about half way along the hall on the right hand side facing the stairs. Tallon looked up and down the hall. Spaced along the hall way on both sides were doors at intervals of eleven or twelve feet. There were about fifteen doors, each identical to Tallon's on each side of the hall way. But there was nobody else in the hall emerging from a door. Tallon was alone.

"Yep," Tallon thought dully, "just the same as always."

Tallon was usually one of the first people to wake, rise and go to breakfast in the Orphanage of Diagon Alley.

The Orphanage of Diagon Alley was where Tallon had lived the last ten years of his life after his parents died. Moody had brought him after he had been taken to St. Mungo's and had his eyes and scar examined. Moody had presented Tallon to the owner, founder, and runner of the Orphanage, Madame Custos, and she took him in.

Tallon started heading down the stairs. Half way down, the stair case made a u-turn into the dinning hall. Another staircase made a u-turn into the same stair case that led into the dinning hall. That stair case led back up to the girl's bedroom hall way. Tallon had come down from the boy's. He arrived in the dinning hall.

The Dinning Hall was situated directly beneath the bedroom hallways, although it was longer and wider than those two rooms put together. Scattered all over the hall were tables of different sizes each with a corresponding number of chairs. In the corners of the hall, on the opposite side from where Tallon was standing, there were two doors. The one in the left hand corner lead to the Orphanage's library. It held a modest collection books on everything from complex potions to famous witches and wizards to magnificent magical creatures from all over the world to innovative and powerful spells, charms, curses, hexes and jinxes. Tallon had read most of the books in the library since he first arrived at the Orphanage. The door in the right hand corner of the Dining Hall, lead to the lounge. In there was a large assortment of all the favorite sit-down wizarding pass times; wizard chess, exploding snap, gob stones, and the popular Battles of Magic trading card game. Tallon preferred watching his fellow orphans play rather than take part him self in these games. He thought they had too many rules and were too unrealistic. He was particularly opinionated this way in regard to the card game. Once, he had seen a game in which a boy had used a Wiggenweld healing potion card to counter the damage of a dragon card's fire-breathing attack. "I real life you know," Tallon had said, "It would take a lot more than a Wiggenweld potion to save you from the fire breath of a dragon!"

The door in the middle of the opposite wall lead to front door of the Orphanage.

Tallon took a seat at one of the smaller tables in the Dinning Hall as other people made their way down the stairs to breakfast. Most of them looked groggier than Tallon, all except a girl who was making her way over to Tallon's table. "Good morning Tallon," she said smiling.

"Good morning Tyera," Tallon replied.

Tyera Scylar was slim and slightly shorter than average for eleven just like Tallon. She had strait, gold, blonde hair that came half way down her neck and deep brown eyes the shade of luscious chocolate. She was Tallon's best friend at the Orphanage ever since he arrived. For the few years when he was blinded by the glass in his eyes, She had taken care of him, stayed with him where ever he went, made sure he didn't accidentally bump into any one or any thing. Tallon could not express how great full he was to her and once had regained his eye sight, they had spent the whole week running around the Orphanage so that Tallon could enjoy it properly for the first time.

"Sleep well?" Tyera asked. Tallon didn't answer. Tyera looked up at Tallon's silence, a look of understanding in her eyes, "You had that dream again, didn't you?" she said, "The one about that night you parents died."

"Yes," Tallon replied quietly.

Tyera sighed sympathetically, "It'll go away," she reassured him, "eventually"

Tallon looked at her sulkily, as if to say, "That doesn't really make me feel any better."

As if she knew exactly what Tallon was thinking, Tyera said simply, "Well it's no good worrying about it any more than you have to. I mean, I know they're probably a long way from pleasant but you'll give your self a stomach ache if you keep troubling over them." Tallon smiled at Tyera in spite of himself. One of the things he liked most about her was that fact that she always seemed to have a way of cheering him up.

"Any way, you'll have quite enough to think about today without that on your mind," Tyera said excitedly.

"Why?" Tallon asked.

"Don't you remember," Tyera said slightly incredulously, "We're going into Diagon Alley to get our books, and wands and everything for Hogwarts today!"

"Oh right, I forgot!" Tallon exclaimed. How could he have forgotten? Today was the day that he would be going into Diagon Alley to buy his Hogwarts school supplies with Tyera. As he and Tyera were the only ones who were eleven, they would be the only ones going to Hogwarts for the first time this year. There were a few other older orphans that had been going to Hogwarts for a few years now, but they kept to themselves. Most of the rest of the orphans were much younger than Tallon and Tyera. Tallon had been into Diagon Alley many times before but never to buy spell books, potion ingredients, collapsible telescopes, or wands. He was quite looking forward to it.

"What can I get you two for breakfast today?" asked a high pitched voice from the floor.

Tallon looked down. A house elf, dressed in a spotlessly clean cooking uniform, holding a small piece of parchment and a quill was looking up at them. "Hi Norfus," Tallon said cheerfully, "I'll have bacon and scrambled eggs today thank you."

"And for you miss?" Norfus asked courteously.

"Get me some pancakes, Norfus," Tyera said, a little less courteously.

The elf's bat like ears drooped slightly at Tyera's reply, "Right then," Norfus said, shortly, and he scurried off. Tallon looked away.

There were about 20 or so house elves that worked at the Orphanage of Diagon alley, but they weren't like most house elves in the magical world. According to Madame Custos, house elves were treated like slaves almost everywhere else but here. Madame Custos's family had grown up with these house elves and their families for the last few centuries and they treated each other just like regular co-workers. The house elves were paid and allowed sick leave and holidays and pensions and every other benefit of a normal job.

Kind in general as Tyera was, she didn't always act just as politely to the house elves.

"So, what do you want to do today before we go to Diagon Alley? Tallon asked Tyera. They often ran into this problem lately. If you weren't interested in any of the games in the lounge, had read most of the books in the library and explored the Orphanage grounds so often you knew them like the back of your hand, it could get very boring here.

"I don't know," Tyera said, she though for a moment then suggested, "Want to go for a walk?" Since Tallon couldn't think of anything better to do himself, he agreed. So they ate their breakfast, and then proceeded to the front door of the Orphanage and out side.

The grounds of the Orphanage were vast, like the back yard of a farm. The whole property of the Orphanage was in the middle of a stretch of endless tall grass fields. Clumps of trees could be seen on the horizon. They walked around the outside of the Orphanage talking mildly, wondering about what its going to like at Hogwarts.

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts," Tyera said, "Learning to become powerful sorcerers and using magic will be great! I want to go into the ministry of magic and become minister. I wonder if I'll be the first ever female minister of magic."

Tallon sighed. Tyera often went on about her ambitions in magic. "You wouldn't be the first female minister of magic, you know," he said, "Artemisia Lufkin was the first female minister of magic.

Tyera looked disappointed, "Yeah well I bet she didn't do much when she was minister," she retorted disappointedly, "I'll be he most famous minister of magic ever!"

"Yeah, keep dreaming," Tallon replied.

They walked around until they came to the back of the Orphanage. Here was situated a decent sized Quidditch pitch. Quidditch was the most popular sport in the Wizarding World, but Tallon found it dreadfully boring. He didn't see the excitement whatsoever in watching people flying around on fancy broomsticks throwing a ball to each other or though a hoop that looked more to Tallon like a giant hollow spoon. Tyera, on the other hand, was very interested in Quidditch and a very good flyer too. Tallon didn't like flying, at least with broomsticks. He liked the idea of flying very much, however, but he thought that brooms restricted and impeded the process of flying. The only way to fly, Tallon thought, was freely with your own wings, like birds.

Behind the Quidditch pitch, there was an enormous garden, with crisscrossing paths full of stone hedges, flower beds, bird baths, sundials, and trees and plants of all kinds. It was the perfect place to play hide and seek on a day of fair weather, which Tallon and Tyera had done numerous times and was one of the things that they had not yet tired of. Up along one of the familiar garden paths they walked, Tyera slightly ahead of Tallon, still elaborating about what she planned to do once she became minister of magic. Tallon wasn't really listening though. He was looking at Tyera, thinking about why she had come to the Orphanage.

Tyera's parents didn't get along well at all. Her father left her mother, Maya, after Tyera was born. Not long after words she had died of illness and left Tyera at the orphanage. Tyera didn't like to talk about her parents, nobody at the orphanage liked to talk about how they came to it. But Tyera in particular would turn nastily bitter every time the subject was brought up. Tallon suspected that Tyera hated her father for leaving her mother in that situation. He also thought that her father might be part of the reason why she was so ambitious. He though that Tyera figured her father left her mother because her father was disappointed in both Tyera and Maya, for some reason or another. So, Tyera felt like she had to prove herself by becoming powerful and successful so that her father would accept her.

"And I'll make owning dragons legal again, because, I mean, it would be cool to have a pet dragon wouldn't it?" Tyera went on, kicking rocks along the path as she walked, "What?" Tyera said, looking back up at Tallon for the first time in minutes. Tallon had a day-dreamy look on his face.

"Oh, nothing," he said, lazily, "Just thinking."

"You _think_, too much," Tyera snapped irritably.

There was a certain amount of truth to that, thought Tallon fairly. He did, after all, spend hours at a time, thinking about all kinds of things. Things like magic, his parents, the orphanage, or else imagining what Hogwarts might be like.

"Will Tallon Farmoon and Tyera Scylar please report to Madame Custos's office immediately?" boomed a voice over the orphanage's magical megaphone system.

So Tyera and Tallon walked back through the garden, past the quidditch pitch, and back inside the Orphanage. Madame Custo's office was down a hallway, just off the front entrance to the Orphanage. When they arrived at the office Tallon knocked on the door twice.

"Come in," came Madame Custos's responding voice. And they walked inside.

It was a square room with a variety of magical objects hanging around the walls. A large collection of Chocolate Frog cards lay in a special display stand on a shelf, along with a framed wizarding picture of Madame Custos and her family. On another shelf there was an all purpose, user friendly, immediate treatment, magical first aid kit, which contained every thing from potions for cuts and bruises to herbs for various animal bites. Tallon had seen Madame Custos use this kit a lot during his time at the Orphanage. Situated on the edge of the highly polished maple wood desk was a miniature fountain in a glass case. The fountain was a very detailed silver statue of a dragon and water was streaming out of its mouth, the tips of its wings, tail, and one of its claws. The dragon statue was standing on a rock in the middle of a pool at its feet. A soft tinkling noise filled the room as the water, spouting out of the dragon, and landed in the pool below.

"Good afternoon my dears," Madame Custos said, in her kind gentle voice.

"Good afternoon Madame Custos," said Tallon and Tyera politely in unison.

Madame Custos was a late middle aged woman with a kind but sharp face and curly dark brown hair. "I know you two are very excited to go into Diagon Alley and get your school supplies but there's something I have to give your before you go," Madame Custos said opening a drawer and pulling two thick envelopes out of it.

Tallon thought for a second what it could be, and then it hit him. He didn't have his school supplies list. "Our list of school supplies? He guessed.

"Yep, can't buy your school things if you don't know what they are, can you?" Madame Custos said chuckling. She walked out from behind her desk and handed one of the envelopes Tallon and the other to Tyera. "I've also gotten some gold out of your parent's vaults at Gringotts." She added, giving a small bag of gold to each of them.

Tallon was just on the verge of saying "thank you", when some thing caught his eye. He could have sworn for a second that the silver dragon statue fountain in the glass case on the desk behind Madame Custos, had moved. He could have sworn that the water pouring out of its body and ceased and that it had yawned and stretched its wings for a fleeting instant. But next second, the flow of water resumed and the dragon statue remained as sill and irremovable as ever. Tallon stared at it intently. He concentrated, shifting the glass shards in his eyes so that the image of the dragon was magnified many times. He examined every inch of the statue closely. It looked just as it always did; like an ordinary statue, incapable of any motion whatsoever. Had his eyes been playing ticks on him?

"Tallon?" Tallon started. Madame Custos had her hand on his shoulder looking mildly concerned, "Are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah…" he muttered, "I'm, I'm fine."

"Well then," continued Madame Custos, "I'll take you two to the door, shall I? She went to the door opened it, held it for Tallon and Tyera to pass, and they filed out. As he left the office, Tallon took another look back at the statue fountain, and it looked just as solid and motionless as it always did.

They walked along the hall to the front door of the Orphanage, which was ajar, revealing the country side beyond. Madame Custos closed the door firmly, pulled a link of keys out of her robe pocket and held a long, thin and curvy bronze one, towards the door. She fitted the key into the lock above the door knob and turned it. A very loud, mechanical click sounded from the door and Madame Custos reached for the door handle, tuned it and swung the door open.


	3. Chapter 3: Forging a Wand

Volume One, Chapter Three: Forging a Wand

The endless stretch of beautiful country side had vanished. Instead, beyond the door was a high stone wall of an alley, but through the windows on either side of the door, they could still see the lush green grass of the Orphanage grounds. The key Madame Custos had put in the lock had activated the portal in the door. Usually the door just opens out to the grounds of the Orphanage, but when the key is put in the lock, the door opens on to a narrow alley that empties into Diagon Alley.

Tallon and Tyera stepped through the portal door and into the alley, a high stone wall on their left and in front of them, the straight narrow path leading to Diagon Alley on their right, and the open door of the Orphanage behind them.

"Now, be sure to get everything you need," said Madame Custos, sternly, "And make sure you get back before it gets too dark."

"We will," Tyera reassured her.

Madame Custos closed the door and it melted smoothly back into the brick wall of the alley. "So, shall we go then?" Tallon asked Tyera.

"Oh, yes," Tyera said quivering with excitement, "C'mon!" She sprinted past him out onto Diagon Alley and Tallon followed, chuckling to himself.

Diagon Alley was just as festive and packed with shoppers as Tallon could remember it ever being. Wizards and witches of all ages peered through the shop windows examining the latest items for sale. The sounds of many hooting owls met Tallon's ears as they walked past the Emporium. A powerful smell of, what Tallon thought was, some thing like burning rubber, wafted to them out of the Apothecary. And a couple of moving dummies were sporting the latest style of dress robes in the display windows of Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions. Tallon used the magnifying glass in his eyes at every building he passed, taking in every detail of the street he had time to spot.

"What should we buy first?" Tyera said, peering down at her school supplies list.

"Dunno," Tallon replied taking another magnified peer into the window of the next shop, Flourish and Blotts, at a book entitled Powerful Potions of the Persian Gulf. "How 'bout we get our books fir – Ahh!" Tallon suddenly clapped his hands over his eyes. They were stinging very painfully.

"What is it?" Tyera said, looking around to stare concernedly at him.

"My…eyes," Tallon muttered through gritted teeth, rubbing them with his knuckles to try and stop the pain.

Tyera took hold of Tallon's arms lead him through the crowd, like a child helping a blind old relative walk down an unfamiliar crowded street. "Is it the glass again?"

"Yeah," Tallon breathed. He was feeling angry with himself for letting this happen again. If Tallon used the glass in his eyes too much at a time to magnify images, his eyes would sting, burn and water painfully. The sensation felt as if a tiny ball of fire had materialized in his eyes. The first and most often time this happened was in Diagon Alley. He had promised himself the last time he had been here, and the time before that he would control himself but it proved once again impossible. All the magical equipment, books, creatures and objects was to intriguing to Tallon for him not to get as good a look at them as he could get.

They walked slowly down the alley. Tyera steered Tallon into one of the tabled benches outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlor, then sat down next to him. "Let's just sit here for a moment," she said shortly.

Through the receding pain in his eyes, Tallon felt a rush of gratitude toward Tyera. "Thanks," he said, some what stupidly.

"No problem." Tyera said, regaining her usually cheery manor, "Got carried away with the glass again, eh?"

"Yeah," Tallon muttered miserably, still angry with himself for letting it happen. They sat there for a few minutes, while Tallon opened and closed his eyes experimentally to see if they had stopped hurting. After a while, he said, "Look, you go on, I'll just hang around here for a bit."

"You're sure?"

"Oh, yeah," Tallon said bracingly, "I'll be fine."

"Aw' right," Tyera said, standing up, "But don't you go blind on me again," and with that, she disappeared back into crowd, in the direction of the Apothecary.

Tallon continued to sit there for a few minutes, thinking. He wondered why Tyera wasn't more aggravated with him about this. He had after all got carried away with his eyes every time he had ever been to Diagon Alley and every time Tyera coddled him out of the crowd and sat him down, though this time, Tallon thought he had detected a note of irritation in her voice. He yawned, got up and walked back down the street, trying to resist the temptation of using the glass in his eyes again as he passed Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop.

In Madame Malkin's the kindly shop owner fitted Tallon into his school wear after taking his measurements. Next, he slipped into the Apothecary to buy all his potion ingredients, where he identified the source of that foul burning rubber smell he had experienced earlier: dried frog hearts. He bought his brass scales, crystal phials and pewter cauldron in the shop next door, then visited the shop on the Apothecary's other side to buy his telescope. Tallon was fascinated by the device. He loved looking up at the stars at night. And he was quite looking forward to using his telescope at Hogwarts.

Slightly hindered by the weight of all his school supplies, Tallon made for Flourish and Blotts. Along the way he spotted Tyera with her nosed pressed against the glass of Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"If I didn't know how interested you were in Quidditch," Tallon began, walking over to her, "I'd've thought you stuck your nose to the window with Spellotape."

Tyera laughed, "Oh c'mon, just look at it!"

"At what?"

"The Nimbus 2000," Tyera cried hysterically, loud enough for the whole street to hear, "the latest and fastest model yet!" She whipped Tallon around to stare at the broom, nearly banging his head against the glass. "Look, there it is" Tyera said in a whisper overflowing with excitement.

There it was. Despite Tallon's general distaste for Quidditch and broomsticks, there was no denying that this one was at least something to look at. Propped on a metal stand, the Nimbus 2000 shone brightly in the sunlight, its sleek and highly polished mahogany handle gleaming against the glass. Its tail of neat twigs was firmly fastened by a strap of leather and the Words, _Nimbus 2000_, were inscribed in curvy gold writing near the top.

It's magnificent, isn't it!" Tyera said ecstatically, "I wish I could buy it."

"Don't even think about buying it," Talon advised her forcibly, "we need to save up all the money we can to buy our school stuff, what have you bought so far?"

"Just my wand," Tyera said, looking away reluctantly from the gleaming broomstick and pulling a long thin box out of a bag. "Hickory and Phoenix feather, 9 and three quarter inches."

"Cool, where did you get it?"

"In the shop over there," Tyera pointed down the street, "The shop keeper, Mr. Ollivander, is this really creepy old man. Well anyway, I'm going to get the rest of my stuff, see you Tallon," and she sped off.

Tallon still had to buys his books so he popped into Flourish and Blotts to get them. He was very interested to read The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) after he had bought all his books and examine their covers, but he had another book he was reading at the moment. Every time he visited Flourish and Blotts Tallon would pull one of the books off its self and read it for a bit. He was currently reading An Encyclopedia of Magical Inventions which he slipped carefully from is high shelf; found an empty seat in the shop and sat down, opening to the page he had stopped at last time.

The featured invention of this next chapter was a shallow, rune engraved, stone basin. The contents of the basin couldn't be seen because of the angle of the illustration. Tallon looked to the text on the page and read:

Pensieve

One of the most curious magical inventions ever made, the pensieve is a device used to store and examine one's thoughts and memories.

Tallon stared at this sentence in bewilderment. A person's thoughts and memories were intangible, existing in the depths of their mind, not something to be stored and examined in a device out side the body, not as far as he knew, anyway. Intrigued, Tallon read on.

By placing one's memories inside the pensieve one can relive that memory as an insubstantial phantom; in other words, the person would enter the pensieve while the memory is in side it and they would observe the scene of their own memory as if they were an invisible ghost. They would even be able to watch their old self in their own memory as it takes place.

Extracting a memory from a person and putting it into a pensieve is a tricky business. One must apply the tip of their wand to their temple, focusing on the memory they wish to extract. Once this is done, a specific incantation must be uttered that will not be mentioned here. If all this is correctly performed the memory should be attached to the tip of the wand when its withdraw from the persons temple.

Thoughts and memories are extremely powerful magical substances and are believed by many experts to have uses other than just sitting in a pensieves. Actual documented uses of thoughts are rare and most are seemingly impossible but experts continue to look for practical uses of thoughts and memories other than storage inside pensieves.

"Experts continue to look for practical uses of thoughts and memories…", this sentence churned inside Tallon's mind like a fat and stubborn piece of meat being digested in his stomach. What other uses could memories have? Tallon sat thinking, staring blindly at the page of the book but not seeing it. Would it be possible…no it couldn't, but could it?

The only thing Tallon needed now was his wand; he had deliberately bought every thing else first so he could save his wand for last. Tallon walked up to the shop, Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C., and stepped inside. The shop was tiny and cramped with thousands of long thin packages stacked neatly right up to the ceiling. A small wooden desk, littered with open wand boxes, bits of parchment and quills, was positioned in the corner facing the entrance. Tallon felt an odd tingling feeling creep up his arms as he entered, as if his senses were alerting him to the presence of some great hidden magic

"Good day," said a soft low voice.

Tallon jumped. An old man who seemed to just pop out of one of the shelves of wands was standing next to Tallon. He had bright silvery eyes like moons and a slightly creepy manor.

"Ah, hi," Tallon said awkwardly, "um – Mr. Ollivander?"

"Yes indeed"

"Right, I've come to buy a wand."

"Obviously," said Mr. Ollivander cheerily, "what else would you be doing in my shop on the offset of your Hogwarts career?" Tallon smiled slightly. "So-", Mr. Ollivander cried, clapping his hands together, "Lets get started then. Are you right or left handed, Tallon Farmoon?"

"I'm ri -, hey – How did you know my name?"

"You look just like your parents," Mr. Ollivander observed, holding Tallon's arm straight out in front of him and measuring it with a silver tape measure. "I remember your parents' wands just as clearly as any," Mr. Ollivander continued, now measuring from the knuckle of Tallon's pointer finger to his elbow, "Your father's wand was quite sturdy, eleven inches, pine wood and unicorn hair, perfect wand for conjuring charms. Your mother, on the other hand, wanted a softer, more flexible wand, sycamore and dragon heartstring, ten–and–a–half–inches, brilliant for defensive spells. Of course, I shouldn't say, she wanted it – it's more of a matter of the wand choosing the wizard, rather than vise versa, you know." Mr. Ollivander stopped measuring Tallon and began scuttling his thin spidery hands over the stacks of wands. "Here, let's try this one – A fine wand, playable yes, with phoenix feather core, eleven-and-a-half-inches, made of birch wood. Take it in your right hand and give it a wave."

Tallon took the wand in his hand, hesitated, then waved it around, feeling a bit foolish. But Mr. Ollivander snatched the wand out of his hand almost at once and handed him another one.

"Oak, rigid but exuberant, ten inches, with unicorn hair, try!"

Tallon tried and tried. He felt like was going through every single wand in the shop. Indeed after an hour it looked as if he _was_ going through every wand in the shop. The stacks of wand on the walls were getting considerably shorter and the stacks of tried wands were piling around him. A few times Mr. Ollivander gave Tallon wands that must have been two short or long for him; just to see if they worked. Tallon was getting a little irritated, but Mr. Ollivander didn't seem to be dissuaded at all. On the contrary he seemed quite delighted at the challenge. "Tricky customer eh? Not to worry!" But it went on and on. Tallon looked out the window; it must have been way past mid-day, the buildings were casting long spindly shadows over the street.

At last Mr. Ollivander sat down behind his desk and put his head in his hands. Tallon wondered for a moment whether he was going to say that he simply didn't have the wand for him and that he'd just have to go to Hogwarts without one. But then Mr. Ollivander muttered slowly, "Yes – yes, only thing left to do."

"What's the only thing left to do?" Tallon asked anxiously.

Mr. Ollivander looked up, a look of fresh determination on his face, "Come Mr. Farmoon, I'll send you off to Hogwarts with the perfect wand for you one way or another!" He walked around his desk and opened a drawer behind it, fiddled around in it for a few moments, then withdrew something that Tallon couldn't see. "Follow me, Mr. Farmoon"

Tallon followed Mr. Ollivander deeper into the shop, behind the shelves of wands until they came to a stack propped against what seemed to be the back wall of the shop.

"Look away for a moment please," said Mr. Ollivander.

Tallon turned around; looking back though the path in the shop they had just come through. Tallon heard a sliding noise then a creek and a click, followed by a long rattling like that of a sliding door.

"C'mon then," came Mr. Ollivander's voice from behind Tallon. Tallon turned around but didn't immediately follow, for shock. The wall and the stack of wand boxes propped against it were gone. Instead there was an opening into a small circular room, slightly cramped like the rest of the shop. Then Tallon followed Mr. Ollivander into this new room. "This," He said taking a grand look around the room, "This, Mr. Farmoon, is my workshop. This is where I actually make the wands I sell."

One look around the dark, slightly hap-hazard room could have told Tallon that. Stacked all around the shelves of this room were rectangular blocks of wood of every kind imaginable. Bits of worn measuring tape and scales were stored in cases with glass seals on top. Similar cases with iron locks across their seals contained individually sorted and labeled wand cores. The gleaming silver unicorn hairs shone like strands of moon light through the slight gloom of the place. Dazzling scarlet and gold phoenix feathers and eerie dragon heart strings also populated the shelves. A desk in the middle of the room supported a complex mechanical contraption with many cogs and wheels. "I haven't done this in a long time Mr. Farmoon," said Mr. Ollivander taking a clip board and a quill out, "I am going to make you a custom wand."

"Custom wand, sir" Tallon repeated.

"Yes a custom wand," said Mr. Ollivander, "A wand made especially and only for you. Now, in order to do that we must determine the exact characteristics of the wand so that it matches you perfectly. First we must determine the core of your wand."

"Er – Mr. Ollivander," Tallon began, wondering whether or not he was going to scoff at this proposal, "I have an idea for the wand core."

"An idea," said Mr. Ollivander curiously, "what is it?"

"Well," Tallon said, a little hesitantly, "would it – do you think it would be possible to use a memory of mine as the wand core?"

Mr. Ollivander stared at him. Tallon wished he wouldn't, those pale moon like eyes were a bit creepy. Finally after a full minute of apparently thinking it over he said, "Yes – yes, I think it might be. In that case," he ripped off the top sheet of parchment on his clip board and continued, "We should determine the exact type of wood first. Now Tallon, I'm going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer them as honestly as possible." He sat in a chair behind the desk and indicated that Tallon should do the same in front of the desk. "Firstly, Mr. Farmoon, what is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?"

Tallon was so startled by this question that he didn't answer immediately. What could his favorite breakfast food possibly have to do with the perfect wood for his wand? "Bacon and eggs," he said tersely. On it went for at least a half an hour. Mr. Ollivander asked Tallon some of the most bizarre questions Tallon had ever heard. Finally Mr. Ollivander said, "Alright then – yes – the perfect wood for you is Eucalyptus. A fine hardwood." Mr. Ollivander went to one of the shelves and pulled down a light beige colored block of wood. "And from the measurements I took of you earlier the perfect wand length for you is eleven-and-a-quarter inches. Give me a few moments while I carve this out."

Tallon watched fascinated as Mr. Ollivander placed the block of Eucalyptus wood to various parts of the mechanical instrument on his desk, shaping and trimming it. It took a surprisingly short amount of time. After about fifteen minutes, Mr. Ollivander turned the contraption off and carefully withdrew the block of wood now molded into a fine wand. "Now, Mr. Farmoon," said Mr. Ollivander holding the now coreless wand in his hands, "You say you have a memory of yours you'd like to use for the core of your wand. What is it?"

Tallon thought for a moment then said, "Well it's a memory of my parents' faces," as he said it he felt a slight warmth spread through his face.

"Ah," Mr. Ollivander said mystically, "Such a memory is a powerful magical force indeed. Now Tallon," his tone suddenly became serious, "are you sure this is what you want to do for your wand."

"Yes," Tallon said determinately

"Alright, now" Mr. Ollivander said, tacking out his own wand and placing Tallon's unfinished one on the desk. "Hold perfectly still and concentrate hard on that memory and nothing else, close your eyes, leave the rest to me."

Tallon closed his eyes and let the memory of his parents wash over him. His father's untidy hair and long nose, and his mother's kind face and full lips. The memory swirled inside his head filling his mind so that all he could see were his parents' faces. Very dully Tallon became aware that the tip of a wand was touching his temple, and suddenly he experienced the sensation of a plug being pulled out of the front of his head. The memory was filling up every last particle of his mind and his head seemed to be swelling itself straining under the weight of the expanding thought. The image of his parents was blurring before his mind's eye. His brain seemed water logged, he couldn't bear the pressure much longer, his head was going to burst, but then – _POP – _with the feeling as though a bubble had popped in front of his head the memory broke free from his mind. Tallon felt faint. He staggered against the wall trying to clear his head, it felt as though his brain had been taken out of his head, torn apart, sewn hastily and carelessly back together then put back.

"Are you alright," Mr. Ollivander's voice sounded fuzzy and distant.

"The – the passage I read about pensieves – didn't say how pain full it was to extract a memory from your head." Tallon muttered panting.

"I'd imagine the sensation takes some getting used to," Mr. Ollivander said understandingly, "But we have the memory!"

Tallon suddenly became aware that a bright light was obstructing his already fogged vision. He rubbed his eyes and opened them, blinked, then gasped. Dangling from the tip of Mr. Ollivander's wand, illuminating the whole room with a greater light than any unicorn hair in it, was a silvery white gossamer fine strand of pale light; the memory.

Tallon stared at it in wonderment. Mr. Ollivander walked over to his desk, carrying the memory gingerly as though it were made of glass. Slowly he lowered the memory towards the Eucalyptus wand. Both the wand and the memory seemed to glow with light as they grew closer to each other. At last with a final flash of dazzling white light, the memory vanished and the wand lay on the desk, pulsating with a moon bright glow.

"Well, well," Mr. Ollivander said quietly, "What a unique wand this is. Eleven-and-a-quarter-inches – eucalyptus and memory core – durable and powerful, yes. Here, Tallon pick it up and try it out."

Tallon edged slowly toward the desk, shielding his glass containing eyes from the glow of the wand. He extended his hand and as he did so a strange prickling feeling seemed to surge from the tips of his fingers all the way up his arm, as thought the wand was pulling him magnetically towards it. Tallon's hand clasped around the wand and he felt a powerful electric charge course through his body. He brought the wand over his head and swung down and across in front of him, as a shower of bright blue and silver sparks spouted out of its tip.

"Excellent!" cried Mr. Ollivander, "Quite excellent indeed. Well that's that, Mr. Farmoon. I – what is it?" he said, for at that moment a thought suddenly occurred to Tallon and his face fell.

"You said that the wand chooses the wizard," Tallon looked mournfully at his wand and went on, "This wand didn't choose me; you and I choose its qualities when we made it."

Mr. Ollivander was smiling vaguely at Tallon. "No, we didn't," he said, "The qualities of a wand are matched individually and together to each person to see which wand would be best for them. In your case we just had to look a little bit deeper into yourself to determine what the perfect wand would be for you. The wand for you might not have already been made when you first arrived at my shop but that doesn't change the fact that it choose you to own it – In a manner of speaking."

Tallon didn't fully understand what Mr. Ollivander was saying, so he said, "But my memory, I personally suggested that as the wand core."

"The memory was there before you had even known what a wand was. It was destined to become the core of your wand all along, don't you see? Mr. Ollivander asked a little impatiently, "The properties of the perfect wand for each person are unique to that person only – all the person has to do is find out what they are."

"But -"

"Let me leave you, Tallon, with my reassurances that you are going off to Hogwarts with the perfect wand for you. Now if you'll pay me Mr. Farmoon, I probably have other customers to attend to by now. Good bye," Mr. Ollivander finished, politely.

Bewildered but feeling reassured all the same, Tallon paid Mr. Ollivander for his wand and left the shop; and indeed, by the time he had left through the shop's front door, a line of five people had formed in front of Mr. Ollivander's desk.


	4. Chapter 4: The New Hogwarts First Years

Volume One, Chapter Four: The New Hogwarts First Years

Over the past ten years, Tallon had always fiddled with his inherited dragon tooth pendant whenever he was bored. Now however he spent increased amounts of time (not only when he was bored) twirling his new wand between his fingers, swinging it around or pointing it at random things. Occasionally, he would accidentally shoot a few indistinct sparks out of the wand or make the objects he pointed it at, wiggle feebly. He started carrying it around with him where ever he went rather than keeping it safe in his bedroom. Although he knew he was perfectly safe at the Orphanage, it gave him a sense of security and empowerment. Not that he could actually do any magic even if he knew how, though. The moment Tyera and Tallon had returned to the Orphanage, Madame Custos had informed them that as underage wizards, they weren't allowed to perform magic outside of school. The next few days passed without much incident, unless you counted one of the younger orphans having a fit because he lost a game of wizard's chess. The day before they were due to leave for Hogwarts, Tallon and Tyera were to be found out in the garden, shaded from the afternoon sun by a large oak tree. They were sitting, talking happily and wondering aloud once more what life would be like at Hogwarts.

"A lot of things will change once we get there," Tyera said.

"Yeah, I suppose," said Tallon thoughtfully.

"Not just learning magic and everything," Tyera went on, "We're gonna meet  
new people and do all sorts of things we've never done before. And who knows," She looked out over the fields surrounding the Orphanage, "Things may change between us."

Tallon could feel the conversation drifting into uncomfortable waters, and at once seized a sudden opportunity to try and stop it. "Well, of coarse they will."

"Huh?"

"The objects in the space between us are always changing as we move around," Tallon said, mater-of-factly.

Tyera laughed. "I know, but I mean, we might become less friendly as time goes on, you know."

"Or we may stay as good friends as we ever were," Tallon said, deciding to let the conversation drift where ever it was going, and not forestall it any longer.

"I'm not saying I want us to become distant with each other," said Tyera hastily, "I'm just saying we can't control what'll happen in the future. We both might die in a train wreck on the way to school tomorrow."

"Well," Tallon began, "That's why we have to do everything we can in the present to make it great. We can't control the future but we can influence it as much as possible."

"So what do we do?"

"We make a pact," Tallon said simply.

"A pact?" Tyera repeated, bewildered.

"Yes, a pact." Said Tallon again, "here," Tallon knelt forward on his knees and beckoned Tyera to do the same. When she did he took both of her hands in his. "Repeat after me but switch our names where you need to."

"Okay," Tyera said with a playful hesitance.  
Tallon cleared his throat theatrically. Tyera giggled. Then Tallon began, "I, Tallon Farmoon,"

"I, Tyera Scylar,"

"Hereby solemnly swear,"

"Hereby solemnly swear,"

"To stay loyal, friendly and supportive,"

"To stay loyal, friendly and supportive,"

"To Tyera Scylar,"

"To Tallon Farmoon,"

"For all time."

"For all time."

"There we go," Tallon said, "Now no matter what happens, we'll be friends forever."

Tyera smiled at him. "Friends forever," she repeated quietly. They sat there together for a long time, looking out on the glorious afternoon sun lit grounds.

The next morning Tallon woke inconveniently later than then he usually did,  
so that Madame Custos had to bang on his door for five whole minutes.

"Tallon, C'mon Wake up! The Hogwarts Express leaves for school at exactly  
eleven'o clock and its ten thirty five right now!"

Tallon sprang out of bed with a jolt of surprise, dressed at break neck speed, seized his dragon tooth pendant from within his dresser, threw it into his trunk, and, with the help of Madam Custos and two house elves, heaved his trunk down into the dining hall.

"Sleep well," Tyera said in a formal, curt voice, as Tallon bolted down some breakfast.

"Yes, very well, thank you," Tallon replied quickly, in a tone of equal formality.

"Well I hope so," Tyera snapped irritably, "hurry up, will you, or we'll be late."

Tallon finished his breakfast, then he and Tyera followed Madam Custos to the front door of the Orphanage, dragging their trunks as they went.

"Wait you two," Madame Custos said, stopping suddenly, "Put down your trunks." Tallon and Tyera put down their trunks with relief. Madame Custos drew out her wand, pointed it at the trunks and said, "Locomotor Trunks." At once both trunks rose into the air. "It'll be faster this way we're short on time, but I'm afraid you'll have to carry them from the Leaky Cauldron to Kings Cross Station. Two heavy trunks floating in midair won't be easily missed by the muggles. It's not a long walk she added," Seeing the crestfallen looks on Tallon and Tyeras' faces. She inserted the bronze key into the lock of the door and opened it, revealing the side passage that lead to Diagon Alley. Madame Custos kept the trunks hovering over the heads of the crowd while Tallon and Tyera hurried along in her wake. They reached the back door of the Leaky Cauldron Inn and proceeded inside. The Leaky Cauldron was the famous Inn that separated Diagon Alley from the muggle world of London. Tallon had rarely been in here before.

As they passed through the pub, Tom, the aged toothless landlord, hailed them, "Oi, Madame Custos, could I get you anything?"

"No thank you Tom," Madame Custos called back courteously, "I've got to take young Tallon and Tyera here to Kings Cross, we're running a bit late actually so some other time."

They reached the front door of the Leaky Cauldron. Madame Custos removed  
the hovering spell from the trunks, waited for Tallon and Tyera to take hold of them again and opened the door. The streets of London were crowded with early shoppers and people going about their business. As the three of them made their way through the streets, they attracted several quizzical stares from the muggles. Tallon knew they must look odd; a full grown woman and two kids, each dragging a heavy trunk through the crowded streets of London. They reached Kings Cross at ten fifty six. Here at least they were able to pick up carts for their trunks so they didn't have to drag them. Madame  
Custos hurried them along past the platforms until they reached platform nine, where she swerved them around to face the solid barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Alright now listen closely you two," Madame Custos said quietly, beckoning  
them to lean closer to her, "All you have to do to get onto Platform nine and three quarters-"

"Platform what?" Tallon said, bewildered.

"Nine and three quarters is to walk strait at that wall between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop, don't look back, just walk right at it. Tyera you go first."

Tyera swayed around to face the barrier looking slightly apprehensive. She squared her shoulders and began walking quickly towards the barrier. Five feet away from the wall, a small crowd of people came walking by, blocking Tyera from view. But when they had passed, Tyera was gone.

"Right, Tallon c'mon," Madame Custos said briskly.

"But where did Tyera go?" Tallon asked slightly alarmed.

"Don't worry about her. C'mon, I'll walk with you." Madame Custos forced  
Tallon into a hasty trot. Ten feet from the barrier the two of them broke into a run. Tallon closed his eyes and let Madame Custos pull him along by the arm. Tallon braced himself for the crash. But it didn't come. Madame Custos had stopped. Tallon looked around.  
A scarlet steam engine was puffing smoke powerfully into the air, as a crowd of people clambered to get on board. Tallon looked around and saw above him, a hanging sign that read: 93/4. 

"Alright, you two," Madame Custos said pulling Tallon and Tyera around to face her, "Have a wonderful time at Hogwarts. Learn all you can, make new friends. And most importantly behave yourselves, alright?

"Yes, Madame Custos," Tallon and Tyera said together politely.

"Good," She hugged them both and pecked them once on the cheek. "Now get on  
board, quick."

They heaved their trunks onto the train just as the departing whistle sounded. They leaned out of the window and waved to Madame Custos as she waved back. With a lurch that caused Tallon to stagger into the window side, the Hogwarts Express grounded into motion and in no time at all, Madame Custos was gone.

"Let's find a compartment, shall we?" Tyera asked.

"Yeah, I don't want to sit out in the hall way for the whole trip," Tallon  
replied smirking.

They walked one way up to the front of the train but every compartment they  
passed was either full or contained considerably older students, and Tallon and Tyera privately agreed that they were too intimidated to sit with sixth or seventh years. They walked back passed the point where they got on the train to see if there was a compartment on that side. Before long, they came across a compartment that had only one occupant; a girl, another first year by the looks of her, with very bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth. She had already changed into her new Hogwarts robes. Besides the girl and her luggage, there was nothing else in the compartment except a pile of robes sitting in one of the seats.

"Ah, excuse me," Tallon began a little shyly, "would you mind? Every where  
else is full and we don't really wanna sit with the older students."

"Oh, not at all, please," said the girl in brisk but polite voice. Tallon and Tyera put their trunks on the shelf over the seats then seated themselves opposite of the girl and of the untidy pile of cloaks and robes.

Then without preamble, the girl said, "I'm Hermione Granger. What are your  
names?"

Slightly taken aback by the abruptness of this query, Tallon didn't immediately answer. Hermione Granger continued to look at them expectantly.

Finally, Tyera said, "I'm Tyera Scylar. And this is-"

"Tallon Farmoon," said Tallon, finishing his own introduction.

"Pleasure to meet you both," said Hermione Granger, "I'm really excited  
about coming to Hogwarts. Aren't you?" and without waiting for an answer, she plowed on, "I was thrilled when I first got my letter of acceptance to Hogwarts. I'm muggle born you see, so I had no idea that all the little things I could do were really magic. My parents were overjoyed too. Have either of you ever done any magic? I've done a few simple spells since I got my wand, just to practice, you know, and they've all gone really well.  
Does either have any idea what house you'll be in? I've been reading up and asking around and I'm hoping to be put in Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best house. Although I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad either." She said all this so fast that Tallon was surprised her tongue didn't tie itself in a knot. Tyera seemed to be finding Hermione Granger's endless speech a little annoying. He however found it interesting and entertaining.

After about 2 whole minutes of this, Hermione stopped but not to catch her  
breath. She was looking expectantly at Tallon and Tyera again. Tallon, trying rapidly to recall what Hermione had been going on about, said modestly, "Oh, you know, I haven't really done much magic myself. I mean, we're not allowed to do any outside school. And I haven't got the slightest idea what house I'll be in either."

Hermione Granger began another speech about each of the four Hogwarts Houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin, based on information she'd accumulated from countless books. Tallon tried once again to show polite interest, but something was distracting him. He had a strange feeling that they were being watched, as though by an invisible person. He wondered vaguely if there was anybody hiding under that pile of cloaks and robes in the corner of the compartment. But then decided that it was much too small to conceal a person.

At that point, the door of their compartment opened and a pale round faced boy appeared in the door way looking distressed, "Ah, excuse me," he said timidly, "Has any one here seen my toad, Trevor, I've lost him."

Hermione, Tallon and Tyera looked at each other. They all knew at once that none of them had seen a toad.

"Ah, no we haven't," said Tyera.

"What's your name?" Hermione Granger asked kindly.

"Neville Longbottom," said the boy.

Everyone introduced themselves again to Neville, who, there after, made to take a seat where the jumble of cloaks and robes was situated. But as he sat down there was a loud "Ouch!" 

Neville jumped up in alarm, looking at the pile of clothes as though it were a ravenous mass of snakes.

A skinny girl emerged from the jumble of cloaks and robes looking irritated. She had long black hair down to her back and strange, penetrating indigo eyes. Her milky white pale skin contrasted brilliantly with her hair. Tallon imagined that she would hold herself rather gracefully despite her aggravated expression.

Neville took the seat opposite the girl instead and asked, "Wha. Where did you come from?"

The girl smirked at him, "I came from this pile of cloaks Longbottom, don't worry, I didn't pop out of thin air."

"Ah, well," said Hermione Granger, awkwardly, "What's your name?"

The girl stared intently at Hermione for a second, "It's Ebony," she said,  
"Ebony Dumbledore."

"Wow!" exclaimed Hermione, "Are you related to the headmaster of Hogwarts?"

"I'm his great granddaughter."

"I'm Hermione Gra-,"

"I heard you all introduce yourselves twice all ready, thank you," said Ebony Dumbledore, but not in a rude voice. She took one long sweeping look at every one within the compartment. Tallon noticed that her indigo eyes lingered over his bright crystalline blue ones and over his hair.

"Do you dye your hair slightly red like that?" Ebony asked.

"Ah..," Tallon said, taken aback, "No, it's always been like that."

"Can I dye it so that its just one color, please?" Ebony said timidly.

Tallon was starting to feel annoyed now. Next to him he could hear Tyera giggling. "No, thank you," he said firmly.

"And your eyes," Ebony began, "Why are your eyes all shinny like that?"

Tallon briefly focused the glass shards in his eyes so that they visibly flashed for the whole compartment to see. He had practiced doing it a lot in his room at the orphanage specifically for an occasion like this. But then he looked away and said, "I don't want to talk about it." He wasn't in any particular mood to discuss his traumatizing infancy with three almost complete strangers.

"Oh, c'mon," Ebony Dumbledore said teasingly, "Ple-"

"NO," Tallon said loudly, almost loosing his temper. He wasn't entirely sure why this was making him so angry. 

"Sorry. I'm usually not this annoying," Ebony said apologetically, "seriously!"  
Out of nowhere it seemed, a great black mass leaped out of the air and landed on Ebony Dumbledore's lap. It was a thin cat with jet black hair and green eyes.

"This is my cat, Wicked, "Ebony said, scratching the cat behind the ears,"Don't worry, Longbottom, she doesn't eat toads."

"Oh no, I forgot abut my toad," Neville moaned sounding desperate, "I'm going to look up and down the train again."

"I'll look with you Neville," Hermione said.

"I'll help too," said Ebony and Tallon together.

"I'll stay and make sure nobody takes our compartment," Tyera said, readjusting herself in her seat.

"Yeah, thanks Tyera," Tallon said, as they left the compartment.

They walked up and down the train, Ebony's cat, Wicked, sneaking along at their feet, looking in the compartments and stammering slightly whenever they opened the compartment of a particularly big older student. At one particular compartment two boys, also first years by the looks of them, were stuffing themselves full of wizards sweets.  
Hermione paused, giving the pair of boys a disapproving look, before inquiring, "Ah. have either of you seen a toad? Neville's lost one."

The boy on the left said, irately, "We've already told him we haven't seen it."  
This boy was tall, thin and gangling, with flaming red hair, big hands and feet, freckles and a long nose. However, Tallon's eyes feel on the other boy on the right. He was short and skinny with an untidy mass of jet black hair and startlingly green eyes. But it was something hidden behind the bangs of the boys hair on his forehead that had drawn Tallon's attention. Tallon used the magnifying power of the glass in his eyes to get a closer look and, sure enough, just visible through the hair was thin scar shaped like a bolt of lightning.

Tallon stared at the boy, who stared back looking a little unnerved, while Hermione criticized the other boy bossily over a spell he was trying to cast. "Are you sure that's a real spell? Well it's not very good, is it?"

"You're Harry Potter," Tallon said quietly. Everybody in the compartment looked around at the boy with the black hair, "Aren't you?"

"Ah, yeah, I am," said the boy, "How did you-"

"I can see the scar on your forehead," Tallon said, nodding his head  
towards it.

All the new arrivals in the compartment introduced themselves and Harry Potter. Once another round of introductions had been made, Ebony turned to the other boy that had originally been in the compartment, "You're name is Ron Weasley, isn't it?"

The gangly red haired boy looked surprised at Ebony for a moment and said, "How did you-"

"I know your older brothers, Fred, George and Percy," Ebony said.

"Weasley," repeated Tallon inquisitorially, but nobody heard him.

At that point, Ebony's cat Wicked came strolling into the compartment looking bored, staring at all the two new faces with mild interest. Ron took an intrigued look at the cat and said, "That's one skinny cat!"

In a fraction of a second, Wicked leaped on Ron and started clawing at his legs. After a few seconds looking at the scene, as thought mildly amused, Ebony pulled the cat off Ron.

"That's your cat?" Ron asked in incredulity.

"Yes, and she's extremely intelligent. Something that you are lacking in," Ebony said matter of factly. Wicked purred in Ebony's arms.

Ron started to rise angrily from his seat. But Tallon said quickly, "Nice to have met you both," and shuffled Neville, Ebony and Hermione out of the compartment.

"I'm not this mean, usually," Ebony added as they made their way back to  
their compartment.

"Right," Tallon said skeptically, "just like your not annoying, usually."

"Precisely," Ebony said simply.

They got back to their compartment. Tallon opened the door to let everybody  
in but found that Tyera wasn't alone in it. Three boys were sitting comfortably in the compartment talking to Tyera. Two of the boys were big and bulky with an air of thuggishness. The other boy was tall with a pale pointed face, and steel gray eyes. Tallon caught a glimpse of what the boy was saying. His voice sounded bored and sneering.

"Ofcoarse, my father is very high up in the-"

Ebony suddenly swooped past Tallon glaring at the boy with a look of purest  
loathing. "YOU!" she shrieked.

"Yeah," said the boy catching sight of Ebony and smirking, "me, miss Dumbledore." The boy was looking at Ebony with an expression of utter disgust on his face. "Now but-out little missy. I'm having a conversation with Tyera here."

Ebony took a step forward, "Get Out, Malfoy," she said with a menacing growl.

"You don't have the authority to send me any where, you filthy vampire!" Retorted the boy called Malfoy, getting to his feet.

Ebony suddenly did something very odd. She bared her front teeth at Malfoy, snarling. It was a few seconds before Tallon realized that Ebony had fangs, fangs that grew past her bottom lip. Malfoy looked suddenly terrified backing into the compartment window.

"C'mon Tyera lets get out of here," he said beckoning to Tyera. Reluctantly it seemed, Tyera said to Malfoy, "I'm sitting here, these are my friends."

"Oh, I see," said Malfoy looking surprised.

"GET OUT!" Ebony shouted.

"Lets go boys."

Malfoy and his cronies edged around the compartment trying to keep as far away from Ebony as possible. Ebony snapped her fangs at them as the passed and they broke into a run stumbling out of the compartment.

There was a long, long silence. In which Tallon, Tyera, Hermione and Neville all stared at Ebony, transfixed. Ebony was staring out of the compartment at the spot where Malfoy disappeared, her fangs were still visible and threatening looking.

At last she looked back at all of them, her expression defiant, "If you don't want to be in a compartment with a half vampire, leave now!"

Nobody moved, though Tallon had the impression that every one else was staying still out of fright than of tolerance.

Tallon, who wanted to make it sound as though Ebony being a half vampire  
wasn't the thing hat disturbed him most, said, "What was that about?"

Slowly Ebony's fangs retracted into her mouth and her look of defiant anger fell away to be replaced by a look of shame. She slumped into her seat and everyone in the compartment did the same.

"Do you want to know why I hate the Malfoys?" Ebony asked quietly.

Every body nodded.

"When I was nine years old I was friends with Draco Malfoy," Ebony said,  
with an air as thought every word was costing her a great effort. "Once upon a time Draco was a sweet boy. We were such good friends he invited me to stay at the Malfoy manner one night. During the night, Draco's father, Luscious, came to visit me while I was sleeping." she paused, "He violated me."

Hermione gasped. Neville looked horrified. Tallon felt incensed. Tyera  
looked mortified.

"I told Draco the next morning. He wouldn't believe me." She spoke the next  
few words in a voice trembling with rage. "He wouldn't believe his perfect father would do something so horrible." Ebony stared out of the window of the compartment looking at the scenery beyond with palpable anger. "Ofcaorse Luscious denied it. It was my word against his. Who was going to believe a nine-year-old half vampire over Luscious Malfoy, a powerful and respected member of the Wizarding community?"

Nobody said a word. For a long time, the five of them sat there each absorbed in their own horrified thoughts.

Finally when Tallon couldn't stand it any longer he said, softly, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Ebony said, some of the anger fading from her face, "Luscious will get what he deserves, I'll make sure of it, " she said with a look of grim satisfaction. They sat there together for another long pause.

Then a squeaking came from outside the compartment and a kindly old woman asked, "Anything off the trolley dears?"

At once Ebony rose to here feet and exclaimed dramatically, "Chocolate  
frogs for all!"

In minutes, they were all happily stuffing themselves full of chocolate frogs, exchanging the wizard cards and discussing random facts they had heard or knew from somewhere about the wizards upon them. Tallon wasn't listening. He was wondering weather or not to tell the compartment at large about his childhood. At first the prospect didn't seem very inviting, but then, he thought, It had probably been much worse for Ebony to talk about it, being forced to by Malfoy's presence.

"You wanted to know, Ebony," Tallon began and every one in the compartment  
looked at him, "Why my eyes are all shiny and bright."

"Yes," she said but with polite understanding in her voice as apposed to bordering-on-rudeness curiosity when she first asked him.

Tallon sighed deeply and told them the story. When he had finished nobody spoke but the five friends sat in silence eating chocolate frogs for the rest of the journey.


	5. Chapter 5: Sorted and Separated

Volume One, Chapter Five: Sorted and Separated

Tallon looked out of their compartment window and realized that night had fallen in earnest, but by the dim lights of the train and his light sensitive eyes, he could make out wild open countryside and patches of trees under the star strewn sky. The scenery was growing wilder and wilder with every passing minute.

"We should be at Hogwarts soon," Hermione said, checking her watch, while Neville and Tyera were having an energetic discussion about Quidditch.

Ebony was interrogating Tallon about his glass infused eyes. "So, you can use them to enhance your vision?"

"Yep," Tallon replied, "If I concentrate, I can arrange the glass so that the image is magnified. I'm also more sensitive to light than normal people, but on the other hand direct light in my eyes make them hurt more than usual."

"Wicked," Ebony said fervently. "Direct sunlight is a problem with me as well, being half-vampire and all. It's not mortal agony as with pure vampires but it still bothers me a lot."

A thought had just occurred to Tallon, "Ebony," He began timidly.

"Hmm?"

"What do you do about…uh…blood?" Tallon asked awkwardly.

Ebony raised an eyebrow at him and he felt immediately embarrassed, "Blood?" she repeated coolly.

"Well, I mean, do you need to drink some one's blood to survive…or," but he broke off. "I'm sorry," he said hastily, "I didn't want to upset-"

"It's all right," Ebony said smiling slightly, "I get awkward questions like that all the time. Its one of the occupational nags of being a half vampire," She sighed and then continued. "I've lived at Hogwarts most of my life. My father, Apollo Dumbledore, died just before I was born and I never knew my vampire mother. Anyway, Albus Dumbledore took me in after that, keeping me supplied with the blood I need. Hagrid, the Hogwarts game keeper brings back freshly killed animals from the Forbidden Forest and harvests blood from them. I only need to drink it about twice a month. But I get seriously ill if I don't. Also if I don't drink my blood, sunlight really hurts me."

"Sounds like a rough life," Tallon remarked, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, but it has its advantages," said Ebony, stretching her long arms and fingers in front of her luxuriously. "My great grand father has helped me develop my magical prowess since I was a toddler so I'm already just as advanced as most of the older students. And I don't need to sleep as much as _normal_ humans."

At that moment a pair of identical people appeared in the doorway of their compartment. Both were stocky and a little older than Tallon and the rest, each with fiery red hair and freckles. "Ah, Ebony!" said one of the twins cheerily, spotting Ebony in the compartment, "Found some fellow first year friends, have you?"

"Yes," Ebony replied warmly, "Tallon Farmoon, Tyera Scylar, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom," she said, indicating each person in turn, "Every one, this is Fred and George Weasley, the coolest kids in the school and in the Weasley family."

Fred and George Weasley bowed graciously, "Resident Hogwarts trouble makers in chief at your service!" said Fred

"If you ever you have need of a little distraction or mayhem, don't hesitate to call!" said George.

"Ebony Dumbledore here is our apprentice troublemaker," said Fred, smiling proudly at Ebony, "And I must say she's coming along quite nicely."

Ebony beamed at the twins.

"Well run along now first years!" said George in a mock formal voice.

"And stay out of trouble," said Fred in an identical tone. Both twins winked at the compartment at large and departed.

"Aren't they awesome?" said Ebony in an awed voice.

"Well, they shouldn't be going around deliberately making trouble," said Hermione reasonably.

"Of coarse they shouldn't but that's what's so cool about them!" Ebony said in exasperation, "You wait 'till you get to know them, you'll see."

"Am I hearing this correctly?" Tallon asked in a tone of mock incredulity, "Is the headmaster's great granddaughter condoning breaking school rules?"

Ebony's look of awed satisfaction vanished instantly to be replaced by a very sour look indeed as she turned to Tallon.

"I was just kidding," Tallon said hastily, grinning at her.

"Good," said Ebony, stiffly.

The train started to slow and every one started gathering up their belongings, before finally, with another unsettling lurch, the train came to a complete stop. Tallon, Tyera, Ebony, Hermione and Neville all clambered out of their compartment and headed out off the train and on to the new platform. It was dark and nippy, but the moment the five of them and stepped onto the platform, a loud booming voice echoed over the heads of the crowd.

"Firs' years, Firs' yeas this way! Yer o'right there, Ebony?"

"Hi Hagrid!" Ebony called back cheerfully.

A massive figure came looming out of the semi darkness just outside the trains field off light, but the next second, the figure passed next to one of the trains windows and Talon gasped.

Hagrid, was at least eleven feet tall and wide as an average car. He had a wild tangle of black hair and beard and bright beetle like eyes. He was carrying a lamp that was hanging at least 2 feet above the head of any one in the crowd.

"This is Hagrid every one, you remember, the one I told you about?"

Everybody nodded looking up in awe at Hagrid. Harry Potter seemed to know Hagrid already though, for he beamed up at Hagrid just like Ebony.

"Right then, c'mon, follow me down the path, stick close," said Hagrid to the group of first year students who had gathered around him. He turned and started walking down a steep narrow path, every one jogging to keep up.

With his glass magnifying eyes, Tallon saw that the path was dirty and beaten, littered with small stones and shrubs. Large closely set trees formed a wall of eerie vegetation on either side of them. Tallon was quite sure that no body else's sight could penetrate this darkness as well as he could, for he caught fragments of conversation among the other first years like, "I can't see a thing," and, "where are we?"

Up ahead, he could hear Ebony talking animatedly with Hagrid.

"You've gotten me my meal again, right Hagrid?" Ebony inquired.

"O yeah, I got yer blood all ready," replied Hagrid

"When can I take it?"

"Just nip down by the kitchens after te' Start of Term Feast, they'll have it ready"

"Good," Ebony said sounding satisfied.

Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, who hadn't heard Ebony's explanation of her ancestry on the train, looked weary at these words.

Tyera turned to them, "She's a-"

Tyera began but Hermione Granger said, "Shhhh!" Tyera looked at her, perplexed, but Hermione continued, "I think it'd be best if she told them herself, Tyera."

Tyera frowned for a second then nodded, and Tallon said quietly, "Yeah, I think so too."

"Tell us what?" said Ron curiously.

"Never mind, it's her business," Hermione snapped bossily. Ron scowled.

"Yeh'll be gettin yer firs' sight'a Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' around this bend here."

The path opened suddenly onto the edge of a vast black lake. Stationed on the bank was a small fleet of boats large enough to carry four people in each of them. Tallon looked up and the whole crowd gasped. On the opposite side of the lake, perched atom a high mountain, its windows sparkling in the starry sky was a magnificent caste, with tall towers and turrets, each reaching towards the sky like a city of stone sky scrapers.

They filed into the boats and started to cross the lake, Hagrid in the lead with a boat to himself. The surface of the lake below them was smooth as glass. Suddenly, Tallon sensed something at the edge of his field of vision. He turned and saw some thing moving over the tree tops of a distant forest. It looked like some enormous ghostly bird but even with his magnifying eyes put to their fullest extent, he couldn't make it out clearly.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid.

They had reached the base of the precipice upon which the castle sat and were heading for a cavern whose entrance was covered with overgrown ivy. They sailed into the cave under the castle and docked at a sort of subterranean harbor, stepped carefully out of the boats (Neville had to double back to retrieve his toad), and started walking up a stone passage way. Soon they emerged onto a long patch of damp grass right in the shadow of the castle's oak front doors; which were situated at the top of a flight of stone steps. Hagrid approached it and knocked three times.

At once the heavy doors swung open, revealing a tall black-haired, wire-rim spectacled witch in crisp emerald green robes. She had a stern face that reminded Tallon slightly of Madame Custos, but he had the impression that this woman was slightly less kindly and warm in nature.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you Hagrid. I shall take them from here, said Professor McGonagall, leading them inside.

The entrance hall was massive, lit with flaming torches that cast flickering orange lights on the flagged stone floor and the marble stair case opposite them that lead to the upper floors. To their right they could hear the babbling of hundreds of voices beyond a door way, but Professor McGonagall led them to their left, through a door and into an empty chamber. She turned to address them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly but before you can take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be some thing like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts you triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will loose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." And she left

_She certainly didn't need to worry about them being quiet,_ Tallonthought. Nobody in the chamber was making a sound they were all too nervous to speak. Ebony on the other hand was looking quite calm.

"How do they sort us into the houses?" Tallon asked her.

"Oh, it's a test, you've got to wrestle a troll." She said, casually.

"WHAT!" several people gasped. Neville Longbottom looked terrified.

At that moment a crowd of pearly white and semi transparent figured drifted in through the ceiling. They were, unmistakably, ghosts, and they seemed to be arguing.

"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -" said a fat little monk.

"My dear friar," said a ghost in a ruff and tights, "Haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he isn't really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?" The ghost had spotted the students below them.

Nobody answered. Then Tyera said, meekly, "Ah, we're waiting to be sorted."

"Ah," said the fat friar, "hope to see you in Hufflepuff, my old house you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned, and the formed a single file line behind her and followed her into the great hall.

It was a splendid sight. Thousands and thousands of candles hovered in mid-air over four long table where the rest of the students were sitting. At the far end of the Hall was another table facing the rest of the school where the teachers were sitting. Glittering golden plates and goblets were scattered over the tables and every eye in the hall was upon the line of new students whom Professor McGonagall was leading up to the staff table. Tallon looked all around and peered up at the ceiling – except there was no ceiling. Instead of high reaching stone, there was an expanse of black, velvety, sky, dotted with shinning stars. Behind him he heard Hermione whisper to Neville, "It's bewitched to look like the night sky. I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History._"

Professor McGonagall arranged the first years so that they faced the rest of the students with the teachers behind them. She then brought out a four legged wooden stool and placed a pointed wizard's hat upon it. It was old, patched, frayed and dirty. The whole hall starred at it. But then a long rip near its brim, opened like a mouth and the hat began to sing:

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can top them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a steady mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The Great Hall burst into applause when the sorting hat finished and it bowed respectfully to each house table in turn, before becoming still again.

"Well, that's a relief," Tallon heard Tyera mutter behind him, "At least we don't have to perform some magic in front of the whole school."

Tallon felt relieved too but he looked at Ebony accusatorily, " You said the Sorting Test was wrestling a troll!"

Ebony grinned mischievously. But at that moment Professor McGonagall spoke. She was standing next to the stool supporting the Sorting Hat and unrolling a long scroll of parchment. "When I call you name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she looked down at her scroll of parchment and read out, "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pig tails stepped out of the line of first years, sat on the stool and put on the Hat. A few seconds passed and then –

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted.

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah Abbot stumbled over to it.

"Bones Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" yelled the hat again.

"Boot Terry!"

"RAVENCLAW!" the table second from the left applauded this time, greeting Terry Boot as he joined their table.

"Brown, Lavender!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table on the left applauded as their first new Gryffindor joined their table.

"Bulstrode, Millicent!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

This time the table second from the right clapped as Millicent Bulstrode took her seat at the Slytherin table.

"Dumbledore, Ebony!"

Ebony walked gracefully over to the stool and placed the sorting hat atop her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat at once.

Tallon saw Ebony beam at Albus Dumbledore, who beamed back, clapping enthusiastically, as Ebony seated herself at the Gryffindor table.

"Farmoon, Tallon!"

Tallon walked forward, a little nervously but excitedly. He sat on the stool, placed the sorting hat on top of his head (which was prevented from falling down over his face only by his large ears) and waited.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his head, "Interesting. Noble and virtuous at heart, with wit and much potential. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge too – yes – there's no doubt about where you belong. RAVENCLAW!"

Tallon removed the sorting hat from his head and strode to the Ravenclaw table gratefully. The ghost of a beautiful lady with her dress swirling like wind around her, clapped along with the rest as Tallon took his seat.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Finnigan, Seamus!"

A sandy-haired boy sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared –

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Granger, Hermione!"

Hermione dashed to the stool and crammed the hat on her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" it bellowed.

Hermione removed the hat and took a seat at the Gryffindor table next to Ebony.

"Longbottom, Neville!"

Neville nearly tripped as he walked over to the stool and the hat took a long time in deciding which house to put him in, before it finally shrieked –

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Malfoy, Draco!"

"Malfoy strutted up to the sorting hat and sat on the stool with an air of arrogant superiority. The sorting hat had barely touched his head when it shouted –

"SLYTHERIN!"

Malfoy got off the stool and joined his cronies who had also been put into Slytherin.

"Parkinson, Pansy!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Patil, Padme!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Patil, Pavarti!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry Potter walked shakily forward and put the hat on. The sorting hat took a long time in sorting him. Finally it screamed –

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Tallon clapped enthusiastically with everybody else as the Gryffindor table cheered and stamped their feet and the Weasley twins, Fred and George, were yelling, "We Got Potter! We Got Potter!"

"Scylar, Tyera!"

Tallon's gaze snapped back to the sorting hat as Tyera approached it, sat down on the stool and put it on. He couldn't see a recognizable face, not at this distance anyway, even with his magnifying eyes, but Tallon had the impression that the hat was considering Tyera very carefully. Finally, the mouth like rip near its brim opened and it shrieked –

"SLYTHERIN!"


	6. Chapter 6: The Icons of Ravenclaw

Volume One, Chapter Six: The Icons of Ravenclaw

_What, no…_ Tallon sat there, knowing and feeling nothing. The sorting hat's last word had obliterated everything else in his mind.

"NO," He said aloud. He wasn't the only one. Ebony, Hermione and Neville were all looking at the Tyera and the sorting hat open mouthed each with an expression of mixed shock and disbelief. Tyera was apparently shocked too because she wasn't moving. She just sat there on the stool, her eyes wide as Professor McGonagall removed the hat from her head, and beckoned to Tyera to join the Slytherin table; which had broken into applause and cheers moments ago. Tyera slid off the stool slowly and took her seat at the Slytherin table, next to Draco Malfoy, who was looking surprised but pleased.

The sorting continued, though Tallon was unaware of it, unaware that Ron Weasley and a boy called Dean Thomas had been sorted into Gryffindor. When the golden plates and platters suddenly filled magically with food and drink, he didn't notice for a few seconds. All throughout the feast and Dumbledore's speech, he keep looking over to the Slytherin table at Tyera, occasionally catching her eye. Tallon was waiting for it to end. He was desperate to go and talk to Tyera, but would he get the chance?

As soon as Dumbledore said they were free to go, Tallon got to his feet, but the crowd was jostling him along, preventing him from getting any closer to Tyera. Finally, back in the Entrance Hall, the crowd parted slightly and Tallon and Tyera ran towards each other.

"Tyera," Tallon said breathlessly. He didn't know what they were going to do, or what to say. He wanted a sign, some hint of reassurance from her; that this wouldn't make a difference.

Tyera seemed to visualize what was going through Tallon's head, as she was so good at doing. "We can still see each other," she said quietly.

"How? When?" Tallon asked.

"We'll find a way," Tyera replied reassuringly.

"Tyera, C'mon," Draco Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins were making their way down a passage that looked like it led down to the dungeons.

"I've got to go, Tallon," Tyera clasped his hand tightly in hers. "Don't worry," she said, "I haven't forgotten our pact."

She ran off and Tallon watched her go. Just before she disappeared into the dungeon passage, Tyera looked back and winked at Tallon.

Tallon stood there, not knowing whether he felt reassured or not. The image of Tyera walking down into the dungeons with the likes Malfoy was almost more than he could stand. How could Tyera have been sorted into Slytherin? She wasn't like the rest of them. But then, Tallon reasoned, the sorting hat did say that Slytherin took those with great ambition and that's certainly what Tyera was; ambitious. But Tyera would never put her own ambitions ahead of the good of others, or her friends, would she? Tallon remembered the sorting hat's song telling them that it could see more deeply into the mind than most things.

_I would know my own best friend better than some stupid hat! -_ Tallon thought savagely.

The crowd had dispersed almost entirely now. Then Tallon felt a strange wet coldness, on his shoulder as though someone had emptied a cup of ice water on it. Tallon yelped and started, looking around. The ghost of the fair maiden, Tallon had seen clapping as he had been sorted into Ravenclaw, was hovering over the floor behind him, withdrawing her hand after touching his shoulder with it.

"My most sincere apologies," said the ghost, in a weary, oddly echoing voice, "I did not mean to startle you."

Tallon caught his breath, "Who…who are you?" he inquired.

"I am the Gray Lady," said the ghost slowly, curtsying in midair before him, "Resident ghost of Ravenclaw house, but you can call me Grace, every one does. Pleasure to meet you, Tallon Farmoon."

"Likewise," Tallon said shortly.

"Well, you'd better get up to your common room," Grace said, "Follow me. I'll take you there. You haven't a hope of finding the Ravenclaw common room on your own, not as a first year. Of course, if you could tolerate not sleeping for a week, you could try to find it yourself, but it would be much easier if I lead you to it. But then again, I'm not so sure you'll be able to get a good night sleep for a while, in any case." Her voiced trailed away slightly as she said this.

Tallon didn't need to ask what she was talking about. He himself doubted whether he would be able to sleep at all tonight.

"That girl you were talking to in the Entrance Hall, was she a friend of yours?" Grace asked delicately, as they started to climb the marble staircase that lead to the upper floors.

"Yes," Tallon muttered, "My best friend…she got sorted into Slytherin."

"Well, the sorting hat is very perceptive," Grace said. Tallon stared at her, "It must have had its reasons for putting your friend in -"

"She does not belong in Slytherin!" Tallon growled loudly.

"I wasn't saying she did," Grace said, calmly, raising her semi-transparent eyebrows. "In fact, even the Sorting Hat makes mistakes, Tallon. It's just that nobody ever knows."

"What do you mean?" said Tallon puzzled.

"People have a way of molding into which ever house the Sorting Hat puts them in, even if they don't really belong there. They eventually grow used to their house's company and even, ultimately, become like them." Grace sighed deeply and then continued, "Conformity is a dangerous thing Tallon; exercise it with caution, even amongst your closest friends.

"Even with your friends?"

"_Especially _with your friends," replied the ghost, "Friends can convince you to do things much more easily than strangers can, even to do horrible things. _They_ might not even know that what their trying to persuade you to do is wrong. Which is why you must think; think for yourself, reason, contemplate, ask yourself "is this good for _me?_", or "is this what _I_ believe is right?" That is what being in Ravenclaw is all about actually, learning, thinking, wisdom, perspective, knowledge. Never lose your sense of self, Tallon. And if you succeed in that endeavor, you may just be able to save your friend from the clutches of Slytherin."

Throughout their whole conversation, Tallon hadn't noticed where Grace was leading him, but they were definitely up in the higher levels of the castle now. Windows, along the corridors they walked through, showed jaw-dropping glimpses of the grounds, lake, forests and distant mountains as they passed them.

"We should over take the rest of the new Ravencalws in a few minutes," said Grace.

And, sure enough, there came the distant sounds of a crowd of people moving along a corridor ahead of them. They turned a corner as met a crown of people, also first years by the looks of them being lead by an older student. Tallon saw Terry Boot, Padme Patil, and others that had been sorted into Ravenclaw, in the crowd.

"The new, stray, raven, Richard," said Grace.

Richard, was a tall boy with pale brown hair, a pointed nose, and eyes the color of summer grass. His face was full, but rigid and he gave off an aura of a decisive and flexible problem solver.

"Thank you Grace," said Richard with a curt nod.

"Fair well Tallon Farmoon," Grace said to him, "Until we meet again." And she glided away.

"Well, Tallon," said Richard, with a fatherly look of welcome on his face, "Welcome to Ravenclaw. My name is Richard Ryfferis and I shall be your host prefect for this evening." Tallon saw that a badge containing a large "P", super imposed on the Ravenclaw eagle, gleamed brightly on Richard's shoulder in the candle light. "Now follow me to the Ravenclaw common room."

They set off again, down corridors, and through passage ways, into the very upper floors of the castle. Eventually they came to the base of what seemed to be a tower. At the end of yet another corridor, there was a magnificent vertical painting of a forest path, lit in the night by moon and stars. The trees on either side of the path formed a kind of arch over the forest floor, like an extended arched tunnel of dense vegetation. Nested on one of the lower branches, its back to the students, and its head drooping side ways, was an owl.

"Archimedes," Richard Ryfferis called to the owl. It did not respond. "ARCHIMEDES!" shouted Richard, loudly and clearly. Still, the owl remained motionless. "Archimedes, I'm not having this useless discussion with you again! I'm a prefect now."

"Ooh!" said an amused, high pitched, hooting voice, "A prefect, are you now, dear Richard?" The owl's head jerked straight upward mechanically and it hoped in midair to turn its self forward to face the students. It then fluttered lightly onto a closer branch, settled itself fussily, ruffling its feathers, and bent forward, scrutinizing the new Ravenclaws and Richard, with its head tilted to one side.

Even in Tallon's preoccupation about Tyera, he couldn't help but be astounded at the creature he was seeing in the painting. The owl was large and colored more bizarrely than anything he had ever seen. Its almost perfectly square head was the color of parchment, its body was a granite-like gray and its tail was long and brightly white as snow. Its ears were tall and thin, rather like those of a cat, and its eyes were both large and round as Galleons, but its right eye was a bright banana yellow, and it's left, a dark velvety purple. Tallon was trying to decide whether it was supposed to be a real owl, a stuffed owl animated by magic or a working mechanical model of an owl. It moved most realistically and fluidly from branch to branch, but the separations in its feather's covering the different parts of its body were unnaturally distinct and abrupt, as if the owl had been sewn together out of body parts taken from other owls.

"Yes, a prefect," snarled Richard, agitated.

"Ooh hoo hoo!" said the owl called Archimedes, apparently amused. "_This tall proud lad, once meek and sad, thinks he's achieved Pre-fection!"_ he chanted in a sing-song voice, hopping up and down on the branch and rotating his head sickeningly. His gaze fell then upon Tallon. His head stopped spinning and his expression changed from amused skepticism, to shrewd interest. "_But this one here, sharp as a spear, reeks with preoccupation!" _Tallon looked up at the owl. "So," said Archimedes, slowly, "Tell me, my young moping morose lad? What is it that's got your Ravenclaw mind all down hearted, eh?" Archimedes rotated his head so that its back was to Tallon, then flipped backward and hung upside down from the branch.

Tallon was reminded irresistibly of the look Hermione had given him and Tyera back on the Hogwarts Express, when she had asked them if they'd ever done any magic. He couldn't believe that that had been merely a few hours ago.

"Nothing," said Tallon tonelessly.

"Oh, but of coarse, 'nothing'," said Archimedes, in a bored voice, rolling his mismatched eyes. "Well, I can't force you to tell me if you don't want to. Anyway, WHERE WERE WE?" Archimedes suddenly cried dramatically. "You're a prefect now Richard, right."

"Adaperio," muttered Richard, looking coldly up at Archimedes, who had flopped back up right and now hopping swiftly from branch to branch.

"Sorry"

"ADAPERIO!" growled Richard.

"Oh yes, yes – yes – yes! The Password." Archimedes leaped off the branch and flew down the forest path depicted in his painting. "Follow me, new Ravenclaws, for I am the gate keeper of the eagle's den. Only through submission of the secret password to me can you open my portal portrait and gain access to the camber beyond! Ha – ha – ha!" His voice trailed and died as he vanished down the path.

"Well come on then," said Richard, and he stepped though the surface of the painting and on to the arched forest path it depicted. Nobody followed. All the first years were gazing open mouthed at him. Richard soon became aware that he was standing alone in the painting. He looked over his shoulder and said impatiently, "Well, hurry up!"

Tallon stepped forward slowly. He could tell vaguely that there was something different about the painting than before Archimedes had flown down it. He put his hand up to the painting's surface, and gasped. There was no surface. With a pang, he realized that the portrait had turned three dimensional, the canvas surface had vanished and the forest path it depicted had actually materialized right in front of them, on which Richard was now casually standing, looking satisfyingly amused at the expression of awe on Tallon's face. With trembling hands, he stepped over the frame of the painting and onto the path, some of the other first years following behind him.

Now that he was inside the painting, Tallon could see that this forest's floor was actually made of stone not earth. But the arching trees all around them that formed the 10 foot wide path, still looked as realistic as ever, criss – crossing over each other and branching sinisterly over their heads. Beyond the trees, there was total impenetrable darkness. Not even with his light enhancing magnifying eyes, could Tallon see what lay behind them.

After giving them a moment to stare around in amazement at the path, Richard cleared his throat and beckoned to the first years to follow him and Tallon caught up with him.

"I swear one day before I leave Hogwarts, I'm going to strangle that sanctimonious little vulture," muttered Richard darkly, "He's been on my case ever since my first night here. Beware of him Tallon, he may seem amusing at first but eventually he just gets down–right infuriating."

They walked on for barely a minute, before they came to a kind of stone tunnel that transformed smoothly into the trees of the forest path. On though the tunnel they went, emerging seconds later in a large brightly lit cozy room.

"Welcome to the Ravenclaw common room," declared Richard taking a grand look around.

The Ravenclaw common room was instantaneously recognizable. An enormous blue banner bearing the bronze Ravencalw eagle hung on the wall above the fire place which was crackling merrily with a cozy warmth bestowing blaze. Straight backed blue arm chairs with bronze trimming were positioned around the fire place and dotted here and there all over the common room; long wooden desks with identically stylized chairs were also populating the room. And at the far end of the room, two rickety spiral stair cases lead to the dormitories.

Some older students were sitting around the fire or at the desks talking to one another. At Richard's pronouncement, a girl looked around and made a bee-line for him.

"Hello Richard," she said brightly.

"Oh, Hello Cho," Richard replied, rather unenthusiastically."

"Cho", Tallon thought, was a very pretty girl with long sleek straight black hair and a few freckles spotting her smooth face. But Tallon had an immediate impression of flirtatiousness that he couldn't quite explain.

Indeed, seemingly unabashed by Richard's response, she leaned closer to him and said unnaturally softly, "Had a good summer?"

"Yeah," said Richard carelessly, "It was okay."

"It can't've been too bad if you've been made a prefect," noted Cho, lovingly fingering the shinning badge on Richard's chest.

Richard rolled his eyes. Tallon had the impression that he was trying to restrain himself from shoving Cho and at the same, resisting the temptation to kiss her.

"C'mon Cho, I've told you, we're too far apart in age, and anyway, not in front of the first years, please," he hissed.

Cho suddenly spotted the first years, "High there," she said politely, "welcome to Ravenclaw, I'm Cho Chang, a second year, anyway" she turned back to Richard, "you can't evade me forever Richard" and she waltzed back to her chair by the fire throwing exaggerated looks back over her shoulder.

Richard stared at the back of Cho's chair, looking flustered, "Yeah, right," he muttered dully, "C'mon." He led the first years to the dormitory stair cases.

Tallon looked back at the fire place and saw that Cho Chang was eyeing him with interest. Unnerved, he looked back at her raising one eyebrow. Cho chuckled and Tallon looked away.

The new Ravenclaw girls went up the stair case to the left and the boys to the right. The dormitory was a comfortable circular room with four four-poster beds spaced perpendicularly around the wall. Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot all made for their respective beds but Tallon hung behind a little. He walked slowly to his bed, barely noticing that his trunk was lying neatly on it. As though his brain were operating on auto-pilot, he took the trunk off his bed, opened it, slipped out of his school robe and shirt and into pajamas, and fell into bed.

His mind was saturated. He had so many things to think about and so much to worry about. As though from a great distance it seemed, he heard the pleasantly drowsy chatter of the rest of his fellow Ravencalw first years.

"_My fellow Ravenclaw first years?_" Tallon thought. "_No they're not._" He felt oddly detached, even resentful to them, a feeling, he was undoubtedly sure, was spurred by the absence of the one he valued most; Tyera. He had spent most of his life in her company, but now the prospect of going through his whole Hogwarts career with Tyera in and under the influence of Slytherin, was more than he could stand.

He remembered the pact they made back at the Orphanage. Would they really be able to maintain their friendship between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin Houses? He had long since deduced, from everything he had ever heard about Hogwarts that Slytherin was considered something of a rival by the rest of the school and that Slytherins generally felt the same.

"_Who cares what the rest of the school will think?_" Tallon thought aversely. Tyera obviously wanted to maintain their friendship as much as he did. Being sorted into rival houses didn't make the slightest difference in their feelings for each other.

But then the words of the Gray Lady came back to him, "People have a way of molding into whichever house the sorting hat puts them in…"

"_She's no Slytherin!_" Tallon thought fiercely, "_She won't become like them. I'll make sure of that, I'll keep her from changing!_" But then, the reason why they had made the pact in the first place also returned to him; things change. "_They won't,_" Talon thought firmly, "_nothing will change_".

He lay there awake in bed for along time, long after the others had fallen asleep, the same feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty chased though his head by feelings of resentment and determination. Finally when he couldn't stand just laying there any longer, he leaped silently from his bed and went to stare out of the dormitory window.

It was a truly beautiful night. The moon light shone brightly over the tree tops of the distant forests, making the dark grass below glow a light sage slightly. Patches of clouds looked like collections of navy blue cotton as the moon illuminated them from behind. Had he been less preoccupied, Tallon thought, he might have sat here all night admiring it, watching the night progress, then turn slowly into day.

Then at that moment, Tallon saw a shadow in the shape of a monstrous bird pass in front of the moon and then vanish behind a cloud. Tallon stared up at the sky momentarily distracted from his misery. He was quite sure that it had been the same creature he had seen while he had been crossing the lake on the way to the castle. But at the moment he didn't care very much.

Slowly Tallon fell into an uneasy sleep right in front of the window where he sat. He dreamed that he and Tyera were sitting under the sorting hat, but it had been enlarged to the point that it was as thought the both of them were under a tall, patched, frayed and dirty circus tent. Tallon saw that Tyera was looking around slightly nervous.

They were in state of semi-darkness, and out of it came the sorting hat's echoing voice, "She belongs in Slytherin, Tallon. I know you disagree, but I'm always right and I know better."

Suddenly Tyera's clothes began to change. The socks were flooding into emerald green from the tips of the toes upward. A Hogwarts school uniform with green trimming and a Slytherin house badge was materializing around her. Her shirt was replaced with a flash by a dark green sweater with a silver and emerald stripped tie underneath it.

"Don't worry Tallon," Tyera said, softly, "I'll still be able to wear my old clothes."

"You've got to stop her Tallon," said the Gray Lady concernedly, emerging out of the darkness on his right, "Find some water and wash those Slytherin clothes off her, quick!"

Tallon looked around wildly. There was no water any where.

"Don't bother Tallon," said Richard Ryfferis distastefully, appearing behind him, "If the Sorting Hat put her in Slytherin, then she's not worth cleaning."

"Oh, so this is what was plaguing your mind, eh Tallon?" hooted Archimedes curiously, fluttering into sight on Tallon's left, "Such a pity."

"Oh, forget about her," said Cho Chang dismissively, stepping forward into view between Richard and Archimedes and leaning very close to Tallon, "You can put more dirt on me if you like," Tallon looked around and saw that here clothes were covered in grime and dirt.

The four of them moved closer to Tallon continuing to comment and advise, while Tyera examined her new clothes with a mixture of interest and dislike as Tallon watched, helplessly, and a shadowy bird flew over all their heads. The incessant babbling and the vision of Tyera transforming into a Slytherin was torturing his mind.

With a jolt he awoke, his face un-sticking from the glass his heart thumping rapidly, looking around wildly. His breathing slowed as he realized where he was. With a feeling of temporary relief followed immediately by gloom, he pressed his head against the cool smooth soothing surface of the window. What was he going to do? Would this separation from Tyera reign over his life for ever? Would their friendship survive? Slowly he rose from the window sill, crossed the dormitory to his bed and fell upon it, though his over wrought brain kept him stolidly awake for what felt like at least another few hours, the same unanswerable questions drifting like weighty clouds in his mind.


	7. Chapter 7: A New Life

Volume One, Chapter Seven: A New Life

Tallon had almost forgotten the fact that he was at Hogwarts now, and that a new phase of his life was about to begin. He was still so preoccupied about Tyera the following day that he barely made it down to breakfast in time to eat and get to his classes.

But getting to his classes proved more difficult than Tallon could have ever imagined. During his brief trek through the castle with Grace the previous night, he hadn't taken real notice of how vast and intricately the passages of the castle wove. He soon came to realize that the castle was enormous. Its corridors twisted and turned, endlessly; so that one moment it would seem as though you were heading southwards down a fourth flour corridor and the next moment you would be heading northwards through a corridor on the seventh four. Additionally, there were innumerable trick steps, hidden doors and secret passages that confused Tallon to no end.

Fortunately, Grace had obliged to guide him though the castle, at least for the time being. There were a couple of instances, however, when Grace proved not as helpful a guide, for she might glide off through a portrait or stretch of utterly blank wall and leave Tallon behind for a few seconds. Realizing, most apologetically, she would then reappear and (after a long thoughtful pause) lead him down a more substantial route to his destinations.

"I am quite sorry, Tallon." she said earnestly. "I'm am so used to traveling through the school unhindered by tangible objects that I often find I've forgotten the ways by which this school was meant to be navigated by living beings."

"Right," Tallon mumbled irritably.

Even when he finally reached his classes, Tallon couldn't keep his mind from wandering to Tyera, which became increasingly problematic as the days of magical education progressed.

"Mr. Farmoon! Will you pay attention?"

"Wha…Oh yeah, sorry professor." He, the rest of the first – year Ravenclaws as well as all the first – year Gryffindors were in their first Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall who was inconveniently sharp and strict. She had just caught him starring blankly out of the window. He noticed that Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Ebony, Hermione and Neville all looked around at him when Professor McGonagall had shouted her reprimand.

"As I was saying," said Professor McGonagall, curtly, "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts…"

They studied magical plants in Herbology with Professor Sprout; and History of Magic with Professor Binns. This was at least a class in which Tallon's fretful doses could go unnoticed and unchallenged, except by Hermione, who seemed to be nothing short of perfect in every subject and a strong disapprover of laziness or daydreaming in class.

"Tallon," she hissed at him, quietly.

"What?"

"C'mon, pay attention!"

"Right, yeah." He replied, dully. He doubted he could pay attention even if he was so distraught. Professor Binns was their only ghost teacher, who had a sickly droning voice that seemed to cast a spell of irresistible boredom or drowsiness.

By contrast, Archimedes was, as Richard Ryfferis had warned Tallon, the most sporadic but annoying presence in the whole school. Every morning when they left the Ravenclaw common room, and every evening when they returned after dinner, the Ravencalws had to contend with the antics of "the gate keeper of the eagle's den" as he Archimedes called himself. He would shout pieces of nonsense advice after people who left the common room, "Always remember: teacher's take it as a sign of resourcefulness when you write your homework with a carrot!" or setting people who wished to enter the common room, riddles; the answer to which was the password, so they had to work out the riddle to get inside. "I'm an abbreviation of a boy's name, a nick-name for a food, and a kind of politician. What am I?"

Charms, under normal circumstances, Tallon thought, might have been the subject he was most looking forward to most, which was taught by a tiny wizard, Professor Flitwick. He had to stand atop a pile of books every lesson to make himself seen and told them that it was in here that they would learn the most actual wand magic. This at least feebly peeked his interest enough for him to copy down vague notes on incantations and wand movements.

Potions was torturous. Besides being taught by the head of Slytherin, Professor Snape, whom Tallon felt immediate resentment towards for being the head of the house Tyera was in, Snape himself was cold, belittling and intimidating. He was tall and swooping with long lank greasy hair, a hooked nose, and black glimmering eyes that made you think of dark winding tunnels. He took even less kindly than Professor McGonagall to his in-class-daydreaming about Tyera.

"Mr. Farmoon," he whispered, in a voice pulsating with anger, bending down in front of him during their first Potions class. "You are here to learn Potions. Now, whether or not you pass my class is of absolutely no concern to me. But I will Not Have You Day Dreaming Lazily WHEN I AM TALKING!!" His voice rose to a shout; he was still barely a foot from Tallon. The rest of the class was watching silently. Slowly Snape stood up, leering down at Tallon. "Five points from Ravenclaw," he added in a self satisfied way.

There were many groans from the other Ravenclaw first years and a lot of exasperated looks back at Tallon. He didn't care, but from then on he tried to pay attention as best he could in Potions. Unfortunately, Tallon didn't seem to have any grasp on potions whatsoever. He kept confusing ingredients even when they were labeled and couldn't understand any of the instruments or devices used in brewing the complicated potions Snape set them. This did nothing to improve his attitude toward Tallon.

"Daydreaming again, Mr. Farmoon?" he said in a furious voice, peering into the congealing blood-red contents of Tallon's cauldron; which according to Snape's instructions on the black board, was supposed to have turned a deep fluid blue by now. "Another five points from Ravenclaw!"

Astronomy no doubt would have been more interesting to Tallon had he not been so miserable, but not even properly learning about the heavens could distract him from Tyera's absence.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a disappointing class. While Tallon found the idea of such a class interesting enough, their teacher was a stammering timid wizard called Professor Quirrell. Quirrell seemed frightened of just about everything, even his own subject for he shuddered most horribly at his own mention of vampires and werewolves and other dark creatures he said they would be studying this year. Ebony took great offence at the labeling of Vampires as "dark creatures".

"Not all vampires are vicious blood-thirsty brutes," she mumbled darkly, "and I think werewolves are cool! I mean, c'mon! Wouldn't it be cool to turn into a wolf every full moon?" she shot at Tallon once during break.

"I suppose so," Tallon replied, not really listening.

Despite his almost indecipherable stuttering, and during one of the brief moments when Tallon was actually paying attention, Quirrell had managed to teach him a spell. "Fli-Flipendo, or the Knock-back j-j-jinx, is a u-useful sp-spell that will push objects a short d-d-d-distance a-w-way from you or even br-break more d-delicate objects. It c-c-can also b-be used to repel m-minor d-d-d-dark creatures ad-v-vancing towards you."

Tallon had tried to pull of this spell several times but no attempt was very successful. The objects Tallon had tried to enchant so far had merely remained motionless or wobbled feebly. He found that he couldn't work any bit of magic he had learned so far, though he thought he knew exactly why.

He had glimpsed Tyera a few times in the corridors or in lessons he had with the Slytherins. But he hadn't gotten much time to talk to Tyera. Mostly because the rest of the Slytherins took great pleasure in keeping Tyera and Tallon separated as much as possible or else taunting them about it. On Friday afternoon when Tallon, Tyera, Ebony and Hermione had all managed to find each other during break, they were sitting in the courtyard talking about their first week at Hogwarts.

"I'm quite enjoying my self," said Hermione, adding a few more sentences ("before I forget") to her already two-and-a-half-foot-long Herbology essay. According to Hermione, Professor Sprout had only requested a foot.

Tallon was still having extreme difficulty with his Herbology homework. Hermione had tried to lend whatever help she could but she was so excited about learning at Hogwarts that she often went on about how interesting she found the subject or random obscure facts that she'd discovered that were entirely unrelated to the matter at hand.

"You know, some experts believe that there are Venomous Tentacula that grow in Britain, maybe even in forbidden forest on the grounds. Though of course, that's mere speculation mind you. It's proven that Venomous Tentacula prefer tropical environments, but these experts believe they have the ability to adapt to colder more temperate climates…"

"Hermione," said Ebony patiently, jerking her head towards Tallon. After that Hermione resigned herself to not acting to cheerful about her studies for the time being.

Ebony was getting along quite nicely as well. Having lived in the castle most of her life, she was on good terms already with most of the teachers and already had a substantial knowledge of magic.

Tallon was barely scraping passes in all his classes only with the help of Ebony and Hermione for both were exceptional students and had time enough to spare to help him. Both felt sorry for his predicament and all though Hermione greatly disapproved of any sort of copying, cheating or excessive academic help, Ebony had convinced to her to help him together.

Tyera was not handling the situation much better than Tallon was. She was having all the problems he was but was struggling under the additional burden of the ridicule of her "fellow" Slytherins. They seemed to feel, according to Tyera, that she was weak and foolish for trying to maintain her friendship with Tallon, who had been sorted into a rival house, and was therefore, not worthy of mingling with Slytherins. Tallon had endured some similar remarks from other Ravenclaws, but by the sound of it, not nearly to the extent that Tyera had.

"Draco Malfoy's a prat!" she declared angrily.

"A petty, arrogant, spoiled prat!" Ebony added, nodding vigorously.

"He's always talking about how fortunate it was that the sorting hat put me in Slytherin, that now I'll be among "_proper Wizarding types_'" she said in a pompous sing-song voice, imitating Malfoy, "and not to mingle with those inferior kinds. And that I'll come to think the same way soon enough"

Ebony suddenly looked gravely at her, "Tyera," she said, Tyera looked at Ebony, "If you go the way of the Slytherins, I'll jinx you into oblivion."

"Don't worry, you won't have to." Replied Tyera firmly.

Hermione, now having finished with her Herbology essay ("at least for the moment"), said, "Did any of you hear? Some body broke into Gringotts."

"What?!" gasped Ebony.

"Who? When?" Tallon inquired, speaking for the first time at this meeting.

"Not long ago," Hermione said concernedly. "But nobody's sure who. The odd thing is that even though a breech was definitely confirmed, the Gringotts goblins say that nothing was actually stolen."

Tyera frowned, "Who breaks into the country's only Wizarding bank but doesn't steal anything?" she wondered aloud.

"Some one looking for something that was already taken," interjected Hermione, "It said in the Daily Prophet that the vault that was breached had been emptied earlier the very same day."

The four of them sat in thoughtful silence for a few moments. Ebony seemed particularly interested.

After a while, she said thoughtfully, "I wonder…"

"Hmm?" said Tallon, inquiringly.

"Well," said Ebony. She lowered her voice a little. "I know that my great grand dad sent Hagrid to take something from Gringotts and bring it to Hogwarts. I don't know much else about it but it sounded as though it was some thing important."

Some thing in Ebony's voice told Tallon that Ebony was feeling slightly guilty about knowing this.

"Professor Dumbledore told you he sent Hagrid to get some thing form Gringotts?" He asked slowly.

"Well, not exactly," said Ebony evasively, "But I have ways of knowing things that I want to know about."

"Right," Tallon mumbled exasperatedly.

"But it really isn't my place to nose into my grate grand dad's private business." Ebony said, hanging her head as she shook it, "He has to do what's best for the Wizarding World without me bugging him for information. He looks after me and cares for me but he's a busy man, being the greatest sorcerer in the world."

"Yes, we were just discussing, little miss sharp tooth," jeered a sneering voice from behind them.

They all turned to see Draco Malfoy and his gang of Slytherin cronies about ten yards away, staring at them with mixtures of satisfied dislike or sniggering mirth. "What good has Dumbledore ever really done for this school? My father thinks that if he'd really wanted to do the Wizarding World any good, he'd retire!"

This pronouncement was met by more sycophantic laughter from the Slytherins. The four of them glared at Malfoy. Tallon grasped the handle of his wand under his robe, even though had yet to perform any magic since he arrived at Hogwarts.

Ebony stiffened as she looked at Malfoy with an expression of unlimited revulsion. "Eat your fingers, Malfoy," she said, "before I do."

"Oh, what a snappy retort. Anyway," Malfoy said, unconcernedly, turning to Tyera now. An oddly patient but disappointed look on his face. "I thought I told you not to hang about with riff-raff like this, Tyera."

"Tyera looked back at Malfoy, rigid with cool defiance. "Well, I guess you didn't tell me then, because I am, aren't I?" Malfoy scowled. "Mind you, I still would hang about with _riff-raff_ like this, even if you really did tell me not to." Ebony and Tyera grinned at each other.

"Well, it seems to me that you require a re-education in proper Wizarding socialization, Scylar." Malfoy observed. "You should stop by my manor, my parents would be happy to save you. And don't worry about getting…" He paused, looking coldly at Ebony, "_abused._"

Ebony, Tyera and Tallon drew their wands, but Hermione tugged at the backs of their robes, whispering pleadingly, "No don't! If you fight, we'll all be in so much trouble!" Tallon, Ebony and Tyera didn't calm down so easily, people in the courtyard were watching now. Tallon looked around him; there were no teachers to be seen; Malfoy could keep on taunting them as long a she liked.

"It's quite pathetic how the lesser of magical kind spread despicable rumors about those better than them!" he growled superiorly, more to his fellow Slytherins than any one else. "You'd think they'd at least have the decency to mind their own worthless business."

Ebony and Tyera wrenched themselves free from Hermione's restraint, which had slackened at Malfoy's last jive, and raised their wands preparing to strike.

But before they could cast their spells, a loud, authoritarian voice bellowed casually, "Well, what seems to be happening here?"

Richard Ryfferis came bounding into the courtyard looking with polite expectancy between Tallon, Tyera, Ebony and Hermione, and Malfoy and the Slytherins. No one said anything for a moment. Then Malfoy said quietly, "Nothing."

"You hear that, folks?" Richard asked the courtyard at large. "Nothing! There's nothing to see here! Move along, C'mon!"

Richard waited for the crowd to disperse then leaned closer to Tyera and Ebony. "It's Ebony Dumbledore and Tyera Scylar isn't?" he asked each of them respectively.

"Yes," they answered slightly taken a back

"I'm curious ladies," he said, "What spells were you planning on using on Malfoy?"

They were so shocked by this question that Tyera and Ebony stared at Richard in amazement. He smiled amusedly back.

Tyera recovered first, "Uh, I was thinking of using _Flipendo_."

"_Jelly Legs,_" said Ebony.

"Hmm," said Richard thoughtfully, "You know, the _Furnunculus_," He pronounced the word very clearly and slowly, "curse can do pretty ugly things to people," He raised his eye brows significantly at them as he said this.

Ebony looked as thought she'd just been given a spectacular gift beyond her wildest dreams. Richard stood up satisfied and started walking away but Tyera called, "Wait, you haven't introduced yourself!"

"Good point, that," remarked Richard, turning to face them again. "Richard Ryfferis, Ravenclaw fifth-year Prefect at your service." He bowed respectfully before them and then he departed.

The next two weeks were much the same as the first, though perhaps a little less sullen. Ebony managed to curse Malfoy with the _Furnunculus _curse completely stealthily with very entertaining results. Before he could get away, the entire entrance hall had turned to see Malfoy's whole face mutating into something that looked as though it was dead and rotting and had spent a good long time oozing in boiling water.

To add a delicious flavor of dramatic irony to the whole situation, Richard appeared on the scene long after it began and examined Malfoy critically like a horse breeder eyeing a particularly runty new-born pony. Then he took him by the arm and led him to the Hospital Wing, making quite a performance of announcing to everybody he passed along the corridors to make way for Malfoy so he can have his face fixed.

"Richard Ryfferis is the coolest Prefect I've ever met," said Ebony fervently, while they made their way back do their dormitories after everything had calmed down.

"Well," said Hermione, trying to sound reasonable, "He shouldn't have told you or Tyera to curse Malfoy. I mean, he's a Prefect."

"Hermione," began Ebony smugly, "Richard didn't tell us to use the _Furnunculus_ curse on Malfoy; he just told us about the curse, didn't he? And he took Malfoy up to the Hospital Wing after words, so, no harm done."

Tallon and Tyera grinned slyly at these words but Hermione scowled, rolling her eyes.

Tallon, mean while, still had had no progress at performing magic and was still doing far worse than he would have liked in his classes. Even though the shock of finding himself and Tyera in separate houses had worn off slightly now, the matter still plagued him wherever he went, and his and Tyera's time together was still limited.

Often Tallon caught sight of other first years trying to perform bits of magic. Seamus Finnegan had developed a habit of setting things on fire or causing them to explode whenever he tried to do magic. Neville Longbottom was having no more success, though usually, nothing whatsoever happened when he tried to perform magic. Tallon noticed that the other Ravenclaw first years had a bit more success in their first attempts than the rest of the first years. After all, they were supposed to be clever and intelligent, or at least more significantly so than the other students. The two exceptions of course were Ebony and Hermione, both of whom seemed to have learned and at least once performed every single spell in The Standard Book of Spells: Grade One.

But what Tallon really wanted was to do some thing special with Tyera; some thing like they used to do back at the Orphanage. He and Tyera used to sneak out of the Orphanage at night and explore the grounds surrounding it.

In the mean time, notices went up on all the common room notice boards that the first years were to receive flying lessons. Tyera and Ebony were particularly excited at the prospect of learning to fly.

"Yippee! Flying!" cried Tyera ecstatically, at breakfast the day the notices went up.

Ebony did not act so overly excited at the prospect of flying as Tyera but she seemed just as interested. "I mean, its flying!" She said simply, "Who doesn't want to fly?!"

"I'd certainly like to fly," Tallon responded, "but not with a broom-stick."

"How else would you fly?" Ebony asked.

"I'd like to fly by my self; with my own wings."

Ebony raised and eyebrow at him.

"Well," Tallon continued, "If you fall off a broomstick in the air, you're done for. But if you loose your balance while flying by yourself, you've got the ability to pick yourself up again, don't you?"

Ebony continued to look at Tallon with one eyebrow raised. Then after a long pause she said, slowly, "I suppose."

Tallon would not be attending his flying lessons with any of his friends. The Ravenclaws were to have their lessons with the Hufflepuffs while the Gryffindors were to have it with the Slytherins; though both groups would be having their lessons, at different times, in an open, flat part of the grounds, on the opposite side of the castle from the Forbidden Forest. Their instructor, Madame Hooch and older-aged woman with short gray hair and yellow, hawk-like eyes, taught them the basics of flying. How to mount your broom, get airborne, and stay airborne. Unfortunately Tallon seemed to have no grasp of flying at all (at least with a broomstick). To mount your broom, you were supposed to step up to the left side of your broomstick, stick your right hand out over the broom and say "Up!" When Tallon shouted "Up!" down at his broomstick, it shot up and went flying forward through the air like a javelin, whizzing past Terry Boot's head and missing him by inches. The broom soared at least 60 feet away, before it crashed to the ground, miraculously, undamaged. Tallon ran to retrieve it while the rest of the class laughed openly. Even after he eventually got on to his broom, he couldn't figure out how to make it fly the way he wanted it, and it was all he could do to keep himself in the air. Tallon thought that the broom might be defective, and then whether or not he should be flying at all. When the lesson finally ended and Madame Hooch called them back to the ground, Tallon took ten minutes to get off his broom and ultimately had to jump the remaining eight feet to dismount.

The Gryffindors and Slytherins were to have their first lesson later that day. After dinner, Tallon, Tyera, Ebony and Hermione all converged to discuss their flying lessons.

"So how was your flying lesson?" Tyera asked him.

"Disastrous," Tallon replied at once.

Tyera looked taken aback. Tallon told them about his pitiful attempts at flying. Throughout his retelling he noticed that Ebony was trying to restrain her self from laughing. When Tallon had finished, her faced was screwed up with suppressed mirth.

"It's not funny, Ebony," said Hermione with a mixture of seriousness and sympathy, "Tallon could've gotten hurt."

Tallon felt a rush of gratitude towards Hermione. Ebony mean while, controlling herself at last, said, "I'm…I'm sorry. But it sounds pretty funny to me."

"Right," Tallon said impatiently, "Anyway, how was your lesson?"

"Amazing!" said, Tyera awestruck.

"A mess," said Hermione disapprovingly.

"Bloody brilliant!" said Ebony, earnestly.

Tallon stared at them. "What happened?" he asked, both unnerved and interested.

Taking turns, Tyera Hermione and Ebony told him.

"Well, it started out ordinary," said Tyera,

"But then Neville Longbottom's broom went out of control and he broke his wrist," said Hermione.

"Madame Hooch took him away to the Hospital Wing…" said Ebony.

"And then Malfoy stole a rememberall, that Neville had dropped," said Tyera.

"Harry Potter told him to give it back, Malfoy refused and he flew off with it and Harry followed!" said Hermione.

"Hermione tried to call Harry back," said Ebony.

"But he'd flown off towards Malfoy like a bullet. And when Malfoy threw the rememberall away, Harry dived after it, caught it and landed on the ground without a hitch." said Tyera.

"But then Professor McGonagall came down, because we were told to stay on the ground while Madame Hooch was away, and she took Harry off." finished Hermione.

They four of them looked at each other for a long moment. Then, seized by a sudden opportunity to amuse and confuse the girls, Tallon asked casually, "So, what happened to Neville's rememberall?"

Tyera, Ebony and Hermione all looked at each other, frowning. Then Tallon laughed softly. "Sounds like a pretty eventful lesson."

"You should've seen it!" said Ebony.

"It was incredible!" sighed Tyera.

"No, it wasn't!" said Hermione hotly. "I overheard Malfoy and his cronies talking to Harry and Ron Weasley over dinner and their going to have a Wizard's Duel at midnight in the trophy room." She paused, expecting some one to look incredulously appalled, but instead everybody seemed interested. So looking even more roused, Hermione continued, "And they could all be expelled if they break any more rules after what's happened today. And they'll loose Gryffindor and Slytherin," she said gesturing at Tyera.

But Tyera cut Hermione off at that point, glaring. "Do you think I care about Slytherin winning the House Cup?!"

Hermione stopped, her expression of indignant disapproval shattering like glass, "Of course not, Tyera. I'm sorry."

Tyera looked away from Hermione but her expression lightened "It's okay."

"But still," continued Hermione, looking cross again. "It's so selfish of them to do this. Why can't they just leave each other alone?"

"Because they're boys!" said Ebony, simply.

Tallon looked at her, frowning.

"No offence," Ebony added hastily.

"None taken."

"But they feel like rivals and they've got to settle a score between them. It's quite stupid, really." She added, sneering.

"They've got to be stopped," said Hermione, resolutely.

"Your right, Hermione," Ebony said, nodding grimly, "Tell you what. You and I'll stay up toning in the common room, and if Harry and Ron really do come down, we'll try to talk them out of it."

"Good idea!" Hermione agreed. "Well we'd better get upstairs then. Good night, you two!"

Tallon and Tyera bade them good night in return and watched Ebony and Hermione make their way up the marble stair case together. Then they looked back at each other and it struck them both at that moment very powerfully. This was the first time since the sorting hat had put them in different houses that they were completely alone together; and indeed they were standing almost on the exact same spot on which they had grasped each others hand and reassured each other of their continuing friendship. They looked at each other, but not awkwardly; and suddenly Tallon was reminded of some thing he'd been wanting to do.

"Uh, Tyera," he said.

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking, lately"

"Well of course you have! Everybody thinks, don't they?" she remarked observantly.

Tallon laughed. "Well naturally." He said, "But anyway," He lowered his voice conspiratorially and started walking up the marble stair case to avoid any stragglers from dinner, "I've been _wondering_, You remember the old adventures we used to have back at the Orphanage at night; when we explored the grounds?"

"Yes" said Tyera.

"Well, I was thinking, why don't we do some thing like that again, eh? Let's explore that castle. It'll be just like old times. Only with a bit more risk and bigger and better things to explore.

A look of excited nostalgia came over Tyera's face as she said, "D'you know? I've been feeling in the mood for some thing like that too."

"I thought you might," said Tallon, grinning.

"Why not tonight?" suggested Tyera.

"Tonight?" Tallon repeated.

"Yeah, tonight." urged Tyera, "Similar to what you said back when we made our pact; there's no time like the present.

"Alright tonight," said Tallon, business like, "So, where and when?"

Tyera thought for a moment, then she said, "How about the Library, at eleven, thirty?"

"Done."

"Alright then," said Tyera turning to go down the marble stair case and to the Slytherin's dungeon common room.

"Good night," Tallon called after her.

Tyera turned back and, giving Tallon a significant look, she said, politely, "See you soon."


	8. Chapter 8: The Mirror and the Monster

Volume One, Chapter Eight: The Mirror and the Monster

Tallon's nerves mounted as the night wore on. He had decided to stay up in the common room and pretend to be working on homework, (which he should have been doing anyway), until it was time to meet Tyera.

Tallon didn't take much notice of what his other Ravenclaws were doing, but simply stared at his potions essay intently, though not really thinking about it. He doubted he could do a decent job of this essay even if he really applied himself to it. Occasionally, Tallon checked the enormous eagle-styled clock hanging over the mantle piece. It seemed impossible that it was only 8 o'clock.

Tallon caught snippets of the activities of the other Ravenclaws during his feigned studying. He over heard Richard having an intellectual discussion with one his fellow fifth years about the principles of a certain transfiguration precedent and Cho Chang saying, in a sickeningly soft swooning voice, "You know, I think quidditch players are very brave dashing lads."

Tallon allowed himself a slight "_Humph_" at Cho's words.

At around nine-thirty, student's started going up to bed. Tallon watched closely as, one by one, the other Ravenclaws went up their respective spiral staircases to their dormitories.

Tallon looked lazily at his potions essay. _I suppose I could try to get some work done on this essay,_ Tallon thought dully, _Just to pass the time_. But it was useless. It seemed that the harder he concentrated on his boils-solution essay, the more his brain seem to sag as it tried fruitlessly to comprehend this supremely useless potion. Slowly he fell into a dose, his head lying side ways on his open copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.

"Tallon…?"

"Uh? What? What time is it, is it time to go?"

"If you're talking about time to go to _bed_, yes."

Tallon unstuck his face from the pages of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and looked around to see Richard Ryferris standing over him.

"Wha – what time is it?" Tallon yawned.

"It's time for bed," said Richard, smirking. "But to be precise, it's about eleven twenty five."

"What!?" Tallon looked up at the Eagle-styled clock hanging above the mantle piece and received a shock. Richard was right. He had only five minutes to get to the Library to meet Tyera at their prearranged time, eleven thirty.

"I've got to go," Tallon babbled distractedly, seizing up his barely started potions home work and starting out of his chair.

"What's the rush?" Richard asked, raising one eyebrow.

Tallon realized that he had been acting a bit more anxiously than the scene warranted, at least as it appeared to Richard. He immediately dropped his tensed posture and tried to pull off another stifling yawn. "Oh…nothing. Just had a rough day, loads of homework but…I'm going to have to do it tomorrow."

"I suppose so" said Richard slowly, fixing Tallon with a slightly suspicious gaze. "Well, I just didn't want you to sleep in the common room. Good night Tallon." He turned and marched up the boy's staircase.

"Yeah, thanks, good night," Tallon called after him.

He waited until the door of Richard's dormitory had closed, then crept silently back to his bed, deposited his potions book and essay in his bag, and dashed back to the common room. He sneaked along the passage to Archimedes's portal painting and stepped though it into the castle. Looking back, he saw Archimedes snoozing in one of the upper most branches of his tree with his head under his wing.

He started along the passage that connected the Ravenclaw common room tower to the rest of the castle – then he slowed down, the rate of the sounds of his echoing foot steps slowing along with him. An odd chill had surged through his body as a stunning thought hit him. He was actually sneaking through the castle at night, completely alone. _And,_ Tallon thought to himself, _completely out of line._

If Filch, Mrs. Norris, or any of the Teachers, or anybody saw him, he'd be in deep trouble. He'd loose Ravenclaw so many house points, not that he felt any real sense of pride or belonging to his house, but he was keen to avoid any more unpopularity. And he would likely end up in detention.

_But,_ reasoned a voice in Tallon's head, _this isn't some arbitrary late-night jaunt. You're going to meet Tyera – and explore the Library just like you did back at the Orphanage._ _It'll be an adventure._

Tallon's entire body seemed to quake with excitement. _The risk combined with a worthy cause – what a combination_. Nervous but filled with a fresh determination, he set off again down the dark and deserted corridor.

Suddenly, as though to underline the feeling of mingled apprehension and excitement bulging in Tallon's chest, he heard a loud hooting grunt. He looked around to see Archimedes jerking awake. Tallon looked around wildly. It was too great a distance to the end of a corridor to get out of Archimedes field of view. He threw himself behind a large vase, mounted upon and outgrowth of stone in the wall, and hid there, still as a statue.

"_HOO-_ goes there?!" Tallon heard Archimedes hoot, his voice echoing off the stone-cast passage.

"Which unruly raven prowls this stone domain in the dead of the night?"

Tallon lifted himself up ever so slightly to peer over the surface of the stone mount. Archimedes's large, circular eyes were sweeping the corridor like search lights, as he hopped from branch to branch in an attempt to get nearer to the edge of his painting.

Slowly and quietly as a shadow, Tallon slunk along behind the shadow of the vase towards the end of the corridor keeping Archimedes in his sights. He saw Archimedes eyes rove near the spot where he lay, and then, suddenly they're eyes met.

For one long tense moment they stared at each other, Tallon not daring to move.

"I see a pair of gleaming eyes in the dark," chanted Archimedes, slyly.

Tallon felt his heart slip several inches down past its proper place in his chest. His overly bright blue eyes were giving him away. Tallon found himself shaking with fear. Taking quite but deep, steadying breath's he closed his eyes again and felt his way along the wall of the corridor, listening with all his might for sounds from Archimedes.

"You won't escape me you phantom of the night!"

Suddenly, Tallon heard Archimedes voice coming from a different direction; _Archimedes must be moving to other portraits_, Tallon thought desperately. Edging as quietly as possible along the wall of the corridor, Tallon felt the edge of the corridor and threw himself around it running as fast as he could away from Archimedes.

Once he had put a few corridors in between himself and Archimedes and was sure that he had not been followed, Tallon stopped for a quick breather and set off again. Still looking cautiously around every corner and making as little noise as possible, he proceeded towards the library. Perhaps Tallon was imagining it but he fancied that some times he saw a suit of armor or a sleeping portrait follow him for a moment, but always appearing to be still and silent whenever Tallon looked back over his shoulder. His glass infused eyes, though they had nearly got him caught, served him well in his dark and dangerous trek. They allowed him to see all the way to the end of long corridors and discern distant or obscured objects. Parallel columns of moonlight filtered through the high windows in the ceiling, illuminating the outer corridors of the castle as Tallon tip-toed through them.

Again, Tallon seethed with frustration at the overwhelming size of the castle. Even in his leisurely excursions through it he had trouble navigating the School's winding treacherous passages.

He checked his watch and his insides squirmed with desperation. It was Eleven forty. He was already ten minutes late.

Finally, Tallon reached a stair case than he knew would lead him to the floor that the Library was on and proceeded down it quietly as ever but now with a great wave of relief flowing over him. But suddenly, Tallon felt a jolt in his guts and his right foot sank through a trick step in the stair case. He swayed trying to steady himself, but his leg sank even further into the trick step so that he was in it up to his knee. Tallon's heart pounded wildly in his chest as he looked around frantically for some form of assistance. There was nothing within reach to grab hold of and pull himself out. He considered for a moment shouting for some one to come and rescue him. But the only people who would hear him would be teachers and despite the desperate nature of the situation, he didn't much fancy getting caught out of bed at night by Snape, McGonagall, or Filch. Before long, however, Tallon was reconsidering, as his leg groaned and ached uncomfortably. Even if nobody found him, he would have to remain in this undignified position until morning.

Tallon had made up his mind as was about to draw breath to cry for help, when he heard foot steps. His heart sinking, Tallon looked up towards the end of the corridor. Any second now, Filch, Snape, McGonagall, or even Dumbleodre, Tallon thought miserably, would appear around the end of the corridor, spot him and berate him for his unruliness. Tallon didn't even look up to see who would be reprimanding him momentarily as he heard the foot steps round the corner.

"Tallon!"

The voiced was hushed but elated, and certainly not one Tallon had been expecting. He looked up.

Tyera was approaching him out of the shaded corridor a look of mixed amusement and relief on her face.

"How do you get your self into these predicaments?" she asked him exasperatedly.

"Are you going to help me out of here or not?" Tallon responded shortly, as his leg gave a particularly painful throb.

Tyera smiled and said obligingly, "Hold still."

Tyera took hold of Tallon by shoulders and helped him out of the trick step.

"Thanks," Tallon said gratefully.

"No problem," Tyera replied kindly, "C'mon, the library awaits."

After that, the dark silent corridors of the castle seemed calm, almost welcoming, now that Tallon and Tyera were together, as they made their way almost casually to the library.

The library was vast; far more extensive than the modest library back at the Orphanage. Rows upon rows of slightly decrepit books on every subject imaginable created a kind of maze of who knew how many years-worth of accumulated knowledge. Tallon was awed by the collection of what he knew must be tens of thousands of books, each just waiting to divulge their contents to eager learners. Tyera took Tallon by the hand and dragged him in his semi-dose into one of the aisles.

"I was just perusing through this book on the history of dragon legislation when I decided to go looking for you," Tyera explained. "Did you know; the actual case which led the Ministry of Magic to ban dragon owning was about this crack-pot French wizard who tried to raise a litter of two-dozen French Decimators? But they escaped and roamed the French country-side for a week before the French Ministry could catch them all and modify all the muggles' memories.

"Cool," Tallon said peering over Tyera's shoulder to look at the book too, "Listen, I'm going to look at some other books."

"Alright but don't go too far, we don't want to lose each other in here!" Tyera whispered concernedly.

"I won't go too far." Tallon walked to the end of the row, and looked around. In the row to his right, there was a section on Hogwarts History. To his left, a section on Charms Theory. _Charms Theory,_ Tallon decided.

For about twenty minutes, Tallon and Tyera sat comfortably in the library pouring through the dusty volumes, occasionally pointing out an interesting passage to one another other. Tallon was reading a book on famous Werewolves and Vampires of the 19th century, when he heard Tyera call, "Hey Tallon, come and look at this."

Tallon replaced the book in its shelf and made his way to Tyera following the sound of her voice. When he reached her, Tallon saw that Tyera wasn't looking at one of the books, but rather staring up at the Label of one of the sections. Looking around he saw that this section was fenced off from the rest of the library, except for a tall metal gate shaped in the form of convoluting vines with a sign over it that declared: RESTRICTED SECTION.

"I don't know about this Tyera," Tallon whispered seriously, looking into the dark section with his glass infused eyes. He could see that the covers of these books were more subdued and sinister and Tallon had an uneasy feeling that there was some unknown presence watching them from out of the darkness.

"C'mon, they're only books," Tyera uttered impatiently, "Besides, there's nobody else here."

_"HA-HA!"_

Tallon and Tyera jumped out of their skins. Peeves the Poltergeist had swooped out from on top of one of the shelves in the Restricted Section and stopped in front of them. "Ickle Firsties," she shrieked delightedly, "Tottering on the brink of the Restricted Section, after hours, what FUUUUUNNNNN!"

Tallon and Tyera ran for it as Peeves gave chase, grabbing books at random from along the shelf and hurtling them at Tallon and Tyera as he flew after them. As Tallon and Tyera reached the end of the row, Peeves soared up out of it and in the direction of the exit of the library, trying to prevent them from escaping. Tyera seized a particularly heavy volume entitled The Herbologist's Handbook of Herbs and looked at Tallon.

"Help me throw this!" she whispered desperately. "We'll distract him."

Tallon peeked around the edge of the row and saw that Peeves was hovering above the Library's entrance, upside down, waiting for Tyera and Tallon to show themselves. "Come out and play Firsties!"

Tallon rushed to the opposite end of the row, Tyera dragging the heavy book as noiselessly as possible behind him. Tallon saw a display stand about ten yards away of some old potions books that he could tell were far enough away from the entrance to give them a chance to escape. He gestured to Tyera and together they swung the heavy book and threw it as hard as they could at their target.

It worked. They could hear Peeves soaring eagerly towards the mess of the wrecked display as they ran pell-mell for the exit. Once outside the library, they did not stop for Peeves must have heard them escaping. They dashed down corridors narrowly avoiding colliding into vases or walls as Peeves continued to give chase. Eventually they came to the opening of a much narrower corridor marked only by a very tall suit of armor.

"This way," Tallon motioned to Tyera, dashing down the corridor and slipping silently into one of the rooms. Once inside, Tallon closed the door after Tyera and pressed his ear against it, listening with all his might for Peeves. He heard him swooping along the corridor outside, cackling madly. Slowly the sounds of the poltergeist died, and Tallon and Tyera slumped against the wall catching their breath.

"That was…too close," Tyera breathed.

"Yeah," said Tallon putting his hands on his knees trying to steady his breathing.

Tallon looked around the room in which they had hid. It appeared to be an unused class room full of pilled up desks and chairs. There was an upturned wastepaper basket in a corner with its contents strewn over the floor, but on the wall opposite and facing them was some thing that looked distinctly out of place, as thought it was merely being kept here until being put into use.

It was a magnificent mirror, tall as the ceiling, with an intricate ornate gold frame, supported by two impressive clawed feet. Engraved across the curved top of the mirror was an inscription that read: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_.

Tallon stared at it, entranced. He was barely aware of Tyera saying cautiously, "I think we can go now. We shouldn't go back to the library. Filch will probably have heard the noise we were ma – What? She had just noticed that Tallon wasn't paying attention and then her eyes fell on the mirror too.

Side by side they advanced slowly towards it. Then, as they came close enough to the mirror to see their reflections, Tyera gasped and leaped back from it.

"Shhhh!" Tallon hissed, "What is it?"

Tyera was looking wildly behind her, her eyes wide. "I…I dunno," She said slowly. "I thought I saw some thing in the mirror."

"What?" Tallon said hastily, glancing back at the mirror. He saw himself and Tyera reflected in it, Tyera standing a little behind him. "Come, tell me what you see," said Tallon gently.

Tyera didn't move at first. She stole a nervous look at the mirror, looked hurriedly behind her again and then looked back at it. Tallon moved her directly in front of the mirror and held her trying to calm her as she gazed into, what ever she was seeing, in the mirrors depths; for Tallon still saw nothing but for himself an her. After a moment Tyera said hesitantly, "I see…I see only myself. You're not here. I'm standing on…on a hill in a field, I think. I'm older and I'm wearing dark shining armor. There are treasures and jewels all around me." Tyera's face seemed to clear as she finished, then an oddly contented expression came over her. Tallon looked perplexedly at Tyera, then back at the mirror.

"Let me see," he said hastily, moving Tyera unceremoniously aside, which she didn't seem to notice in her trance, and gazed into the mirror too. He certainly didn't see any hill piled with treasure and he wasn't clad in armor. The dark neglected class room was reflected in the mirror. He could see only himself staring intently at his own reflection, but for some reason, he saw, in the mirror, Tyera leaning casually against his arm, her head resting on his shoulder and a warm friendly smile playing around her face. Tallon looked a little confusedly at Tyera's image in the mirror, but then smiled too as Tyera grasped his hand. Tallon made to clench hers in turn, but instead felt his hand close on thin air. He looked down. Tyera's hand wasn't there, nor was any other part of her. She was still standing, apparently lost in captivated thought, where Tallon had put her.

Tallon looked back at the mirror. There was Tyera, leaning against him and holding his hand and smiling serenely; and there was Tyera standing still, a few feet away from him, gazing at the mirror with a blank expression. Tallon looked at the Tyera in the mirror, still unsure about it. She was still holding his hand, though he couldn't feel it. But some thing about looking at her expression seemed to calm Tallon. Unwittingly, his face was slowly making the exact same expression as hers, benign, content and compassionate. An odd mixture of great joy and bemusement stole over him. He felt he could have stayed there for hours holding hands with Tyera, not caring about when the morning came or if any of the teachers intruded. So long as he and Tyera were together and untroubled, nothing could be wrong.

Suddenly, the Tyera in the mirror blinked and Tallon thought he detected a subtle change in her expression. She was still smiling, but Tallon thought vaguely that there was a lurking sorrow behind her now glassy eyes. A single tear slid down her smooth cheek. Tallon made to wipe it away but his hand only found air. He looked slowly towards her but, with a down hearting realization, remembered that Tyera wasn't there.

The trance ended, the feeling passed, the dream broke, and the reality of their present situation came rushing back to Tallon almost painfully. He backed away from the mirror, now looking at it with disdain.

"Tallon?" Tyera had come out of her trance.

"This isn't right," Tallon said firmly, "C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Wait," Tyera protested moving herself in front of the mirror again, "I want to see that vision again."

"NO!" Tallon had almost shouted. Tyera stared at him looking taken aback and a little hurt, but she didn't say anything.

"There's some thing wrong with this mirror. Let's get back to bed, it's late." Tyera looked back longingly at the mirror. "Now," said Tallon forcefully, tugging at Tyera's sleeve. After one last look at the mirror, she obeyed and they left the room.

Neither of them said a word on their way back through the castle. Each of them was so absorbed in their own thoughts that they didn't even take care to make as little noise or appearances as possible, but fortunately they didn't hear or see any sign of Peeves or a teacher. Once or twice, Tallon thought that Tyera had given him a concerned, slightly furtive look, but he was too preoccupied to care very much. _What was that mirror and what did it do? - _ Tallon thought in consternation. Tyera said that it had shown her an image of herself standing alone and dignified on a hill laden with treasure, but he had seen nothing more than himself and an image of Tyera, standing peacefully beside him. But the image had been real; it had to have been, why else would he have been so entranced by it? Tyera had been just as mesmerized, it seemed, but her vision was some thing completely different. _Why?_ Had Tyera been lying? Some how, Tallon thought, he didn't think so. Could _he_ have been the one misjudging what he had seen? Maybe Tyera had been leaning against him and holding his hand, maybe his glassed eyes were playing tricks on him again.

Tallon's musings continued fruitlessly as his mind registered vaguely that they were now some where near the Charms corridor. Suddenly, they heard a loud metal clanging and crashing from some where in the distance.

"What was that?"

Tallon didn't say anything. Although feeling vaguely that he could think or feel anything else right now, he was listening closely for any more activity. Not long after, they heard Peeves's bellowing voice, slightly muffled by the obvious distance between them, _"STUDENTS OUT OF BED! STUDENTS OUT OF BED!"_

Tallon and Tyera stared at each other perplexedly. Peeves already knew they were out of bed, why was he just now shouting about it? But then they heard the unmistakable sounds of pounding hurried foot steps, of what sounded like many pairs of legs. Instinctively, they both ducked behind a suit of armor near by and waited for the new comers to appear.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley came hurtling around the corner, followed closely by Ebony Dumbledore, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom, each looking terrified and out of breath.

Tallon and Tyera stepped out from behind the suit of armor, "Harry!" said Tallon in amazement, "Ebony, Hermione. What are you–"

"C'MON"

Harry seized Tallon's arm and dragged him hastily along the corridor as Ebony, grabbed hold of Tyera's.

"What's going on?" Tallon inquired of the group at large as they dashed through the castle.

"It's Filch," Harry explained, "He's after us."

"Thanks to Peeves," added Ron.

"I told you," said Hermione in her bossiest, most self righteous voice. "Malfoy tricked you. He was never going to meet you – Filch knew someone was going to be at the trophy room tonight, Malfoy must have tipped him off!"

They stopped at the entrance of the Charms corridor, Hermione, Neville and Ron desperately out of breath.

"What's this about Malfoy?" Tyera gasped.

"Malfoy didn't show up to the trophy room…" Ebony said contemptuously, "…the coward."

"You said you would help me convince these two _not_ to meet Malfoy!" Hermione seethed, outraged at Ebony, while gesturing towards Harry and Ron, "But you were just using that as an excuse to go with them. If you had helped me we probably wouldn't be in this situation."

Ebony looked wryly at Hermione for a moment, and then said tersely, "sue me."

"We've got to get back to bed," said Tallon before Hermione and Ebony could continue arguing.

They suddenly heard the wheezy lumbering steps of Filch, coming from an adjacent passage way.

"C'mon, back this way," said Ron.

"Peeves is down that way," Tyera reminded him.

"Down the Charms corridor, quick!" Harry called to the group and they followed him as he raced to the end of the corridor. There was a door at its end but it was locked.

"That's it, we're done for." Ron moaned pushing futilely against the door. They could hear the converging sounds of Peeves and Filch's footsteps.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. Drawing her wand, she pointed it at the locked and whispered, "_Alohomora!_"

The lock clicked and the door swung open. They clambered inside and Harry slammed it shut behind them then pressed his ear against the key hole, listening.

Tallon, now savoring temporary relief at the idea that Filch would think that this door would be locked, turned to look at their room of refuge.

Unfortunately, Tallon thought, the relief deflating in his chest like a punctured bubble and a new breath-obstructing bubble of fear grew in his throat, refuge was some thing they we're not going to find here. His light enhancing eyes, threw into sharp relief a monstrous form, high and wide as the corridor itself. This was the forbidden corridor that Ebony said Dumbledore had warned the whole school not to enter; and now he knew why. Standing upon a trap door, its yellowed teeth bared and its bulging eyes glowing and rolling in their sockets, was a giant three-headed dog.

Petrified, Tallon and eventually all his companions, stared up at the monster, as it, in turn, contemplated them hungrily, trying to work it's tiny brain around their sudden appearance, growling and drooling menacingly.

_This can't be happening, _Tallon thought, almost hysterically. _This is too much._ _This is just a dream. I'm still sleeping on my homework in the Ravenclaw common room, waiting to go see Tyera._

Harry had found the door knob, swung the door it open, and they toppled back threw it, into the Charms corridor. Ebony, Harry and Ron slammed the door back in place and they ran, almost flew, back threw school. They didn't stop running until they reached the main marble stair caseTyera had to take it back to her Slytherin common room.

"See you later," Ebony called to Tallon and Tyera as the Gryffindors made their way back to their dormitory.

Tallon made his way in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room.

"Tallon wait."

The sound of Tyera's voice startled Tallon. It was desperate, as thought it was coming from some one lost and sad. He looked back at her immediately, but his glassed eyes showed him, in the dark, a face he had never seen before. Tyera looked helpless, and care-worn; she was gazing at him as though looking for some sign of reassurance. He had never seen her lose her confidence or self control like this. At this thought, he was reminded irresistibly of how he had felt after the sorting hat had put Tyera in Slytherin; helpless, confused, desperate, as thought some thing he valued deeply had been taken from him.

He thought he knew what Tyera was looking so worried about, but at the same time, something was holding him back, preventing him from consoling his friend. Finally, he gave Tyera a friendly smile and set off again, thinking he had seen her expression clear slightly – or had that been another trick of his eyes?

As he reached the Ravenclaw common, feeling as though he had not been there in days, Archimedes hailed him. "Well, well, I was wondering when you'd come back," he said in his hooting voice.

"Adeperio," Tallon muttered tonelessly, just as he reached the concealed portrait portal.

He heard Archimedes voice echoing around him, "Care to relate some of you're night time adventures?"

Tallon ignored him, though as he crossed the common room, climbed the spiral stairs and fell fully clothed into bed, between his encounters with Peeves, the strange mirror and the three- headed dog, he thought he had had quite enough adventure for one night.


	9. Chapter 9: The Truth and the Troll

Volume One, Chapter Nine:

The Truth and the Troll

Tallon rarely saw Tyera after the night they encountered the three-headed dog, though of course, mutual fright of that dog wasn't the reason for it. Tallon knew that what had transpired in front of that mirror was bothering both of them, he had deduced as much when he saw Tyera's face before they had departed. He could never really remember her looking so helpless or distressed ever before. He was certain that Tyera had been upset by his outburst over what she had seen in the mirror and in retrospect he thought he had been harsh.

Still, Tallon reasoned with himself, there was some thing very odd about that mirror, not least because it didn't work like an ordinary mirror. Tallon couldn't quite explain it to himself but his and Teyra's visions in that mirror both tantalized him and frightened him. Its was as though his fear of separation from Tyera had been represented by the mirror, a fear that was ever so present since their sorting but at the same time a fear that he could not, would not face. However Tallon's musings went, they always ended with the same question; _what does that mirror do?_ Tallon thought he would be able to resolve the situation if he could understand how the mirror worked and why it was able to cast such a spell over Tyera and himself.

But Tallon thought that discovering the mirror's trick was a near impossibility. Surely the only way to do that would be examining it more closely but he could hardly remember where in the castle it had been and he did not want to risk another night time outing to try relocating it. In the mean time, he decided talk to Tyera about the mirror and work together to solve its mystery.

However it became apparent to Tallon that his attempt at a reassuring smile at their parting that night, had failed in dispelling her distress over the nights events. Since that night, Tyera had seemed distant and cold. Tallon didn't know if he was imagining it or not, but he thought that whenever they were in classes or meals or whenever they passed each other in the corridors Tyera seemed oblivious to him. In fact, if Tallon hadn't known better, judging by the way Tyera didn't resist being pulled pointedly away from him by Slytherins whenever he tried to talk to her, Tallon would have thought that Tyera was deliberately avoiding him.

On the whole, his adventure designed to strengthen their friendship again, had resulted in Tallon and Tyera being more distant than they had ever been in their entire lives. Tallon was becoming more of a brooding, mute hermit by the day. His situation with Tyera had been difficult enough with Tyera _wanting_ to remain friends with him, but now it seemed insurmountable with Tyera preferring to not even see him. He was doing just as poorly in his classes as ever and had even received his first detention from Snape, for being so inattentive in class that he knocked his cauldron off the table, causing its acid green contents to spill all over the dungeon floor. More and more Tallon became trapped in his own thoughts, some days catching himself having not uttered a single word.

_What should I do?_ Tallon thought desperately, lying awaking in bed one night and staring up at the ceiling. Eventually he came to the conclusion that what he really needed right now was a confidant, some one who he could talk to for advice.

The following Saturday morning, Tallon got up earlier than usual, seized a roll of parchment and a quill from his bedside table and made his way down into the common room. He was just about to take a seat in one of the armchairs by the fireplace, when he stopped. The Ravencalw common room looked distinctly different than what Tallon remembered the last time he had seen it, which was admittedly only last night. The room seemed more circular and larger than on his fist night at Hogwarts, and the ceiling was slightly arched with vague imprints of stars cast on the stone. A blank black carpet lay on the floor of the common room and set at intervals around the walls were small glass windows with blue and bronze curtains. Other wise the common room looked the same; the furniture, the fire place, the eagle stylized mantle piece, and the enormous Ravenclaw banner that hung over it.

Slightly perplexed, Tallon sat and began to write.

_Dear Madame Custos,_

_My fist few weeks at Hogwarts have been horrible. Tyera was __sorted into Slytherin and I was sorted into Ravenclaw. Our separation has put a serious strain on our friendship and lately we haven't even been speaking to each other. The other Slytherins are actively trying to keep us apart and the other Ravenclaws seem indifferent to the situation. I've made few other friends here and none of them are really helping me. My preoccupation has become an obstacle in my academics and I've already gotten a detention for my inattentiveness. I'm desperately homesick. If only Tyera and I were still as close as we were at the Orphanage, I feel I would at least be comfortable here. Please write back as soon as possible with whatever advice you can offer. Your advice has always served me well in the past._

_Tallon_

Tallon reread his letter, and as he did so, he thought that it sounded detached and unemotional as though it had been written by an uncommitted bureaucratic teacher making a confidential report to a parent. He looked down at his own indifferent sounding words with revulsion. _Maybe that's just how I write_, Tallon thought, downhearted. He had after all not written many letters in his life, he had had no need to. He had no regular correspondents outside the Orphanage. Not willing to muster up the effort to write it again, he folded it up, left the common room and set off for the Owlry.

As he passed through Archimedes's dawn-lit portrait in the corridor beyond, its resident bird hailed him. "Where are you off too on this early weekend morning, Tallon?"

"Stuff it, Archey," Tallon replied tonelessly.

Archimedes was so overcome with hooting laughter that Tallon heard him almost fall of his branch as he descended the spiraling staircase to the rest of the castle.

Tallon managed to reach the Owlry without much further interference. The straw strewn floor was covered in owl droppings from hundreds of school owls resting on perches over head. The walls were punctuated with open windows so as to allow traveling owls to pass in an out freely. Trying not to imagine hundreds of Archimedess staring at him, Tallon called down a tough looking eagle owl, attached the letter to the owl's leg and let it soar out of the window. He leaned with his arms crossed on the Owlry window watching the owl fly away using his magnifying glass eyes, lost in thought. Had they still been friends, Tallon and Tyera would have likely been standing there together, sending their first letter back to the orphanage to tell Madame Custos about the wonderful time they were having. Even now, weeks after it had happened, Tallon felt surreal about the situation. He could not have imagined in a millions years that he and Tyera would be separated like this. The pact they had made at the Orphanage before coming to Hogwarts seemed like a feeble attempt to prepare for an unknown future that they had never really acknowledged or appreciated. And now, the circumstance for which they had made that very pact in the first place was upon them and Tallon felt utterly powerless to do anything about it.

The Owlry door opened and Tallon looked around with a start. Ebony was standing in the door way looking a little surprised to see Tallon there too.

"Hey, Tallon," she said brightly.

"Good morning."

Ebony looked surprisingly smart for some one who had just woken on a weekend morning. Her long black hair was straight and clean and she carried herself just as gracefully as ever.

"Sleep well?" she asked, scanning the Owlry rafters with her deep indigo eyes for a suitable owl.

"Well enough," Tallon replied. "You?"

"I didn't sleep."

"What?"

"It's another perk of being a half-vampire, remember?" Ebony said smugly, "I don't need to sleep as much as pure humans."

Tallon sighed, "That must be liberating."

"Not as much as you'd think," Ebony admitted as a tawny owl flew obligingly down and stuck out its leg for her letter, "Usually I sleep during the night, but I have the ability, should I wish it, to stay awake if something interesting is going on, which is regretfully rarely."

"I assume that some thing interesting was going on last night then?"

"Oh yes," Ebony said in a self satisfied way, "Fred and George Weasley gave me a crash course in teacher office pranks."

Tallon made the slightest of snorts in amusement. Ebony went to the window and threw the owl bearing her letter out into the sunrise.

"Who are you writing to?" Tallon asked her.

"A friend of mine in Bulgaria, Viktor Krum," said Ebony, "You've never heard of him, though I have a feeling you will soon enough."

Not willing to muster up the energy to investigate this most enigmatic statement, Tallon didn't respond.

"Were _you_ writing to some one, seeing as you're up here?" Ebony inquired. Now that her owl had left she was sitting on the straw floor against the Owlry wall, making herself comfortable.

"The owner of my Orphanage, Madame Custos," Tallon said, still leaning out of the stone window, "…telling her how my fist few weeks here have been."

Ebony's face fell, "Can't have been a very happy letter than."

Tallon didn't say anything.

"I heard about your detention with Snape. What did he make you do?" asked Ebony with a look of mild interest.

"Snape purposefully left the potion I spilt spread all around the dungeon floor," said Tallon tonelessly, "He left it there all day and made me come back during dinner to clean it up."

Ebony groaned. "He's a right foul git, Snape," said Ebony contemptuously, "But my great grandpa trusts him to the hilt, and his trust is good enough for me. But anyway, I was hoping to run into you Tallon, I want to talk to you about some thing," Ebony stood up and approached Tallon by the window.

He looked at her.

"I've noticed you and Tyera haven't been talking lately," she said slowly.

"You could say that."

"Ever since that night we all ran into Fluffy," Ebony continued, "you two have seemed distant."

Tallon took a few moments to absorb Ebony's statement. "Fluffy?" he repeated blankly.

"That giant three-headed dog we ran into is called Fluffy, he belongs to Hagrid," Ebony said casually.

Tallon stared at her, "How do you know that?"

"Hagrid's terribly easy to wheedle information out of. He's lending Fluffy to my great grandpa so he can guard something. I know I shouldn't have found out but I couldn't help it," she finished innocently.

Tallon hadn't spared much thought for Fluffy and the revelation that a giant three-headed dog was being employed by the Headmaster to guard something in the school didn't trouble him very much at the moment.

"I'd bet a thousand Galleons that whatever Hagrid took from Gringotts is what Fluffy is guarding," She said confidently.

Tallon said nothing.

Ebony, noticing his apathy towards the current subject, said dismissively, "But never mind Fluffy and my great grandpa's business." She leaned on the window beside Tallon. "What about you and Tyera?" she asked kindly.

Tallon had considered confiding in Ebony. Her usual assertive witty nature was not one that invited confidences. But just like when they had fist met on the Hogwarts Express and swapped life stories, Ebony surprised Tallon with her warm welcoming side she reserved for occasions such as these. He looked down at his inter-locked hands and sighed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Tallon watched with magnifying eyes as a Giant Squid made its way serenely across the surface of the lake in the grounds. Finally he said, "Tyera and I decided to go on a little night time outing. I thought it would be some thing fun we could do together to help maintain our friendship. We used to sneak out of our Orphanage at night and explore the grounds surrounding it."

Tallon told Ebony about meeting Tyera at the Library and about their narrow escape from Peeves.

"So then we hid in this apparently unused class room and in there we found this mirror."

Ebony's interest seemed to sharpen at these words. "A mirror?" she said, "What kind of mirror?"

As Tallon described the mirror to Ebony, her expression became one of mingled excitement and understanding. "Oh, my god…" she whispered in an awed voice.

"What is it?"

"I think you found it!" Ebony said, striding purposefully in circles, looking down at the floor.

"Found What?"

"The Mirror of Erised." Ebony's expression was ecstatic.

Tallon raised an eyebrow at her. "The what?"

"The Mirror of Erised!" she repeated shrilly and several owls above ruffled their feathers in alarm.

"What's the Mirror of Erised?" Tallon asked, bewildered.

Ebony's jaw dropped then she rolled her eyes.

"I'll spare you the embarrassment of feeling woefully uninformed in the area of Hogwarts legend and just tell you about it."

Tallon frowned.

"Supposedly there's this ancient mirror hidden some where in the castle called the Mirror of Erised," Ebony told Tallon, gazing thoughtfully out of the Owlry window, "It's supposed to show each of us the deepest desire of out hearts when we look into it."

"The deepest desire of out hearts?" Tallon repeated pensively.

"What, did you two actually look in the mirror?"

"Yes."

"Well," said Ebony, her voice reduced almost to a whisper out of anticipation, "What did you see?"

Tallon hesitated. He removed him self from the Owlry window and sat down against the stone wall, thinking. "Tyera got to the mirror first and when she got closer, she leaped back, startled. She'd seen some thing in the mirror and when I asked her what, she said she saw herself standing alone on a hill with treasure piled around her and she was older and dressed in armor. She seemed to calm down as she described it to me; she even seemed happy." He paused. Ebony was looking at the floor, her brow furrowed. "Then I looked in the mirror and I didn't see anything like that. I just saw me and Tyera in the class room."

Ebony looked back at Tallon, "That's all?" she asked, "That all you saw?"

"Well," Tallon began again, "In the image in the mirror, Tyera was leaning on my shoulder and holding my hand and smiling. But when I looked next to me, she was standing a few feet away looking up at the mirror in a sort of trance."

To Tallon's bewilderment, Ebony was looking at him with a warm understating smile, "Oh, Tallon," she said affectionately settling herself against the wall next to him.

"What?" Tallon uttered nonplussed.

"Oh, isn't it obvious?" Ebony said with a maddening smile, "The thing you want most in the world is to be with Tyera. Oh that's so sweet."

Tallon didn't say anything. He wasn't entirely sure how to react to this news. He already knew that what he wanted most at the moment was for him and Tyera to be together and untroubled. Also, some thing in Tallon's stomack seemed to sink somberly as he further contemplated this revelation. Even while in font of the mirror, his dream had been crushed by the fact that Tyera was right next to him but not really doing what the mirror had shown. The actual representation the mirror had shown of his heart's desire didn't make it seem more real to Tallon, it only made it seem more impossible than ever before.

Then Tallon thought of what Tyera had seen in the mirror and his feeling of resentment and hopelessness intensified sickeningly. Judging by what Tyera had described to him when she looked into the Mirror of Erised, Tyera was seeking some thing very different.

"So, what do you think Tyera's vision means?" Tallon asked nobody in particular. He wasn't surprised to hear that his voice was unsteady with anger.

Ebony looked at him startled, "Well," she said delicately, "It…it seems as though Tyera wants to be powerful and independent."

"Powerful and independent," Tallon repeated quietly._ Those were very appropriate words to describe it _Tallon thought with a savage absurdity. He stood up abruptly and started passing the Owlry aimlessly. He felt as though the floor was vanishing from under his feet. Every thing he had thought he had known about Tyera was crumbling around him. In the ten years he had known Tyera, Tallon always thought of her as kind, supportive and playful. A little teasing and greedy at times, but in essence, a good person and a good friend. Now after mere weeks in this school, he doubted he would ever be able to look at Tyera the same way again.

"Tallon?" Ebony's voice seemed to be coming form a great distance.

Tallon remained silent but stopped pacing. Ebony must have took this as a sign that he was listening, because she went on, "You shouldn't jump to conclusions just over what Tyera saw in the mirror,"

"HA!" Tallon laughed mirthlessly; he couldn't help himself. Ebony looked a little alarmed. "The Sorting Hat put Tyera in Slytherin, didn't it?" Tallon said hysterically. "It must have had its reasons. It must have seen that what Tyera really wanted more than anything was power."

Tallon strode next to a window opposite from Ebony, folded his arms and heaved himself against the wall, staring unseeingly out into the blazing sunlit sky.

Ebony looked at Tallon a little uncertainly, "So you think that Tyera's visison in the mirror and the Sorting Hat's decision means that she's selfish, arrogant and ambitious, just like the rest of the Slytherins? Just like Malfoy?"

"Why not," Tallon snapped defiantly, "Her greatest wish is to be alone and superior, the Sorting Hat put her in Slytherin and she's been avoiding me ever since we encountered the Mirror of Erised. She probably realized I wouldn't want to be her friend anymore after she'd shown her true colors."

Ebony stood up indignantly. "So what if Tyera was put in Slytherin and she wants to be powerful? Ron Weasley's been overshadowed by his brothers all his life. I'd bet he'd love an opportunity to be singled out and admired, but you don't see him turning his back on his friends and family."

Ebony's words of reason had no affect. "That's different," Tallon retorted, his voice rising, "Tyera and I knew each other since we were infants, and all this time I thought she would never put her ambitions ahead of her friends. Well, I'm glad I've been put right. I'm glad I know for sure that I've lost one more thing to Slytherin. First my parents and my home, and an ugly tattoo and mangled eyes, now my best and life long friend has abandoned me and joined them!"

"Tallon, you're talking nonsense," Ebony said firmly, trying to calm Tallon down. "Tyera cares about you, she always has."

"Well she's got a funny way of showing it!" Tallon shouted. Owls all around them fidgeted and hooted indignantly. Some flew away in alarm. He was glaring at Ebony, barely suppressed rage surging through his veins like poison.

The expression with which Ebony was fixing Tallon was one he had not seen her wear before. It was one of mingled anger and incredulity, and perhaps disappointment. "You're not as good a friend to Tyera as I thought," she observed scathingly.

"She betrayed me!" Tallon whispered, his voice trembling. "She doesn't want my friendship."

"She needs you more than you know," Ebony said solemnly. "And you need her."

Tallon's rage broke, "I HATE HER!" he screamed louder than ever right in Ebony's face, but Ebony didn't recoil.

She gazed steadily into Tallon's shinning eyes with that scathing disappointed look and said calmly, "No you don't."

Tallon ran. "I HATE HER!" He repeated, bellowing with the force of a fog horn, "AND I HATE THIS PLACE!" He reached the Owlry door, swung it open and bolted as fast as he could back through the Castle, leaving Ebony behind.

As October went by, the weather became perceptibly colder and windier. Students could be seen wearing their cloaks and dragon hide gloves as they walked in between classes. The wind was so strong on some days and complaints of blown-away home work so common that Professor Flitwick had set up an automatic summoning charm that would return any airborne home work back to its owner. As Halloween approached, anticipation ran high; the Halloween feast according to the older students was always wonderful.

But Tallon was impervious to it. His apathy and distaste for Hogwarts and its pursuits was at its highest ever and they were bordering on downright loathing. He started avoiding every one, even Grace, Richard Ryfferis, Neville and Hermione, none of whom had been involved in his situation with Tyera. But Tallon thought all the better of it; the less people that knew about this affair the better.

Tallon now fully ignored Tyera as much as she had ignored him. When ever they passed in the corridors or had classes together, he acted as thought Tyera wasn't there. They rest of the Slytherins, Draco Malfoy in particular, seemed to be thoroughly happy about this. When ever Tallon saw Tyera with a group of Slyherin friends, snickering comments such as, "hey Farmoon, how is it all alone in brainy Ravenclaw?" came his way. Tallon never responded to these feeble taunts, but he noticed that Tyera never participated in them nor did she seem to find them very amusing. She would always scowl disgustedly at him when ever this happened and only stopped throwing exaggerated glares back at him when the rest of the Slytherins recalled her back to their previous activity.

Tallon didn't spare much thought for this. Tyera could do whatever she wanted now as far as he was concerned and he was going to make sure she got as much free reign from him as possible; he didn't want to give Tyera the satisfaction of seeing him opposed to her abandoning him.

Robbed of the company or notice of others, Tallon found a new surprising end to put his efforts to. He didn't quite understand why, but for some reason his purposeful feverish anger gave him the ability to focus like never before on his school work. Every night he could be found in the Library or in the Ravenclaw common room vehemently doing his home work, working well into the night and snapping tersely without even looking up at any one who dared interrupt him. Since adopting this new obsession, he had not been reprimanded for inattentiveness in class once, not even by Snape, and he was rapidly becoming one of the best in the year. Now that he had applied himself, Tallon discovered that he had an almost intuitive grasp of most magical arts. He familiarized himself with all his course books and did extensive research for his home work and class assignments. He practiced wand movements and incantations, studied the properties of magical plants and potions, and immersed him self in school volumes regarding defense against the dark arts and magical history.

While reading or else not using his wand hand in his studying pursuits, Tallon developed a habit of twirling his wand in between his fingers like a pencil. While Tallon felt it helped him to concentrate, it occasionally resulted in nasty accidents. One night in the common room, Tallon was trying to work out a problem in his Transfiguration home work with such intensity that he unwittingly shot sparks from his wand tip, setting fire to Cho Chang's long sleek black hair. Fortunately Richard Ryfferis noticed what was happening and doused her hair with a bit of water out of his wand.

Tallon had not even taken his eyes of the page of his home work or stopped twirling his wand when he muttered, "Sorry."

Cho hadn't seemed to think that this was a satisfactory apology. "Why won't you even look at me?" she asked standing in front of his desk, her soft voice trembling with indignation.

"Forgive me Cho," Tallon snapped harshly, flashing his glass-infused eyes at her, "But there are boys in Ravenclaw House who have more constructive things to do than drool and gawk at you!"

Cho stared horrified at him for a moment then she burst into tears and ran up the girl's stair case howling.

Several moments of stunned silence passed in which every one in the common room looked at Tallon before Richard, looking incredulous, rounded on him. "Who's got their wand up your nose?" he barked angrily.

Tallon's popularity among the Ravenclaws (if indeed he had ever had any) plummeted after that incident, mainly because Cho was so popular. He didn't care. So long as he kept his mind on his academics, Tallon was untroubled. If he didn't have his school work to occupy him, Tallon thought he might have gone mad out of a combination of shock, sorrow and anger.

His attitude about Tyera hadn't changed since his argument with Ebony in the Owlry. She had betrayed him; concealed her true desire for power from him for almost ten years as well as the means to which she would resort to attain it. Why had he not seen it before? All those times she had droned on and on about her ambitions back at the orphanage, why hadn't he realized then that Tyera would be put in Slytherin? He had been so stupid trying to hang on to Tyera after their sorting. Even if she hadn't really wanted to cast him aside for the sake of her ambitions before coming to Hogwarts, he should have known right then that Tyera would do exactly what Grace said; _"People have a way of molding into whichever house the Sorting Hat puts them in…"_

Tallon hadn't spoken to Ebony at all since the Owlry incident either and he was almost as angry with her as he was with Tyera. _She had no business defending Tyera_, Tallon thought bitterly. Ebony had only ever known the Slytherin Tyera, how could she pretend that Tyera would still want Tallon's friendship? And how dare she suggest that Tyera's vision in the Mirror of Erised and the Sorting Hat putting her in Slytherin didn't necessarily mean anything?

Occasionally, Tallon spotted Teyra and Ebony talking to each other alone at break times, and he always determinately avoided their eyes.

By the time Halloween day arrived, Tallon had been working so hard that only Hermione and Ebony were better in class than he was. The afternoon's Charms class was enough to prove this. As usual, Tallon was sitting in the back of the class, participating as little as possible but listening to Professor Flitwick with all his might, twirling his wand incessantly. After Flitwick had finished explaining the theory and the incantation, Tallon flicked his wand at the feather he was supposed to be practicing on and said quietly, "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

His feather rose immediately off the desk before most people had even drawn their wands. Not wanting to take credit for his talent in his angry solitary mood, Tallon directed his feather under his desk and made it trace figure-eights in mid-air around his desk legs, so that nobody would notice; and in any case, the rest of the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw class was too intent upon their own feathers to notice what anybody else was doing. The exception to this was Hermione and Ebony. Ebony had glanced around surreptitiously to see how every one else was doing than she drew her wand with a flourish, directed it theatrically at the feather on her desk and spoke commandingly, _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

It rose high into the air, spiraling. Several people looked around impressed. Ron Weasley, apparently spurred by Ebony's example, started waving his wand over enthusiastically and shouting the incantation.

_Idiot,_ Tallon thought dully.

Hermione, who was sitting next to Ron, intervened. "You're saying it wrong," she said bossily. "It's Win-_gar_-dium Levi-_o_-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long.

"You do it then if you're so clever," snarled Ron.

Hermione rolled up her sleeves busily and flicked her wand. "_Wingardium Leviosa!"_

Within moments Hermione's feather had joined Ebony's in mid air and they were twirling around each other gracefully.

"You show him, Hermione." Tallon said under his breath.

Professor Flitwick was very impressed, "Oh, well done, girls," he cried clapping, "See here every one, Miss Granger and Miss Dumbledore have done it!"

Ebony and Hermione beamed at each other. Ron glowered and didn't speak again for the rest of the lesson. Outside in the corridor after words, Tallon saw Ron complaining about Hermione to Harry Potter. "It's no wonder no one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

At that precise moment, Hermione came pushing past Ron and Tallon was slightly disconcerted to see that she was crying.

Ebony appeared and she caught Tallon's eye for a moment. He noticed that there was an odd quizzical look on her face before he looked hastily away.

Harry and Ron hadn't noticed Ebony or Tallon and Harry was saying slowly, "I think she heard you," as Hermione strode away, hiding her face.

"So what?" said Ron, though his voiced sounded less harsh than before, "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Ebony made her usual dramatic entrance and said scathingly, "Well you're not exactly making things any easier for her, are you?"

Harry and Ron stopped in their tracks at the impressive sight of Ebony. Even while carrying a school bag full of books, ink, parchment and quills, she could still be gracefully intimidating.

Tallon took a corridor away from the scene, frowning with distaste. Tallon didn't catch another sight of Hermione all day, though on his way to the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast, he overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girl's bathroom and wanted to be alone. Upon further thought, Tallon realized that he hadn't seen Ebony since that day's Charms class either.

_So what?_ Tallon thought dismissively.

The Halloween Feast was quite an excitable affair. Even Tallon in his bitter preoccupied mood managed to unwind and enjoy the food a little. Flocks of live bats swooped over the house tables and through the forest of hovering candles, giving a flickering quality to their lights and those of the torches covering the walls.

Tallon was just getting bored with the superficial proceedings, when the doors of the Great Hall burst open and Professor Quirrell came though them, looking terrified and out of breath. Every one in the Great Hall watched as he stumbled up to Professor Dumbledore's seat at the Staff Table, slumped against it and gasped, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know." Then he fainted, pathetically to the floor, his turban slightly askew.

The uproar that ensured was such that it took several purple fire crackers out of Dumbledore's wand to restore silence. "Every one shall please not panic," he called to the hall, "Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories!" Teachers, follow me to the dungeons!"

Richard and the other Ravenclaw prefects rounded up the house in no time, "Ravenclaws follow me and stick together!" Tallon heard him call in a commanding voice over the crowd.

He got in line with the other first years and let himself be lead out of the Great Hall haphazardly, while his mind was working furiously. Surely some thing as stupid as a troll could never have gotten into the Castle on it's own, some one must have let it in. As they started up the Marble Staircase, Tallon felt his breath catch in his chest; Hermione. She had no idea about the troll, even if she did some how, what chance would she have against it by herself?

As Tallon was swept up the stairs by the horde of frantic students, he had a moments indecision; he could allow himself to be dragged safely back to bed, or he could risk serious trouble and injury and try and save her. Tallon hesitated for a fraction of a second. Drawing his wand he slinked back thought the crowd, made his way silently along a side corridor, and headed for the girls bathroom.

After about a minute he heard a pair of hurrying foot steps coming from the other end of the corridor. Ducking behind a large stone griffin, Tallon waited. To his slight surprise Harry and Ron appeared. With a half hearted feeling of relief, Tallon reemerged from behind the griffin and hailed them. "Hey!"

They started but calmed down when they realized it wasn't a teacher who had called out. "What are you two doing?" Tallon asked.

"Looking – for Hermione," panted Ron.

"You too, huh?" Tallon responded with a snort. "That's surprising, considering she's _a nightmare_?"

Ron looked a little unnerved, "Who are you," he asked offensively.

Tallon scowled. Apparently his isolation had worked more effectively than even he'd realized. "Tallon Farmoon, remember?" he said impatiently, "we met on the Hogwarts Express."

"Oh, right," Ron muttered curtly, "And what's it to you if Hermione's in trouble? I've never seen you with her."

Tallon advanced towards Ron, "Well she might not be in trouble if you hadn't insulted her. Ever think of that?" he retorted.

Ron was about to riposte but Harry said, exasperatedly, "This is no time for finger-pointing, guys! Let's just find Hermione."

Ron and Tallon continued to glare at each other for a moment, then they both nodded. They were just about to set off, when more hurried foot steps reached their ears.

"Here!" Ron hissed. He pulled Harry and Tallon behind the stone griffin

Tallon had just been hiding behind and they waited.

As the foot steps drew nearer, they peered out from behind one of the griffin's clawed feet and saw Snape. He glanced quickly around the corridor, his black robes billowing behind him, and then he crossed the corridor and vanished.

"What's he up to?" Tallon heard Harry whisper. "Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the other teachers?"

As Snape disappeared, they emerged from the griffin and continued though the next corridor.

"He looked like he was heading for the third floor," Tallon said suspiciously.

Ron suddenly held up his hand, to stop them. "Can you smell some thing?"

Harry and Tallon sniffed. And immediately their noses picked up a horrid stench, it smelled like a mixture of old socks and a neglected lavatory. Ron pointed towards the end of a dark corridor and echoing towards them were the unmistakable sounds of colossal foot falls. Shrinking into the shadows of an adjacent corridor they watched in horror as a gigantic and hideous form met their eyes.

Tallon's light-enhancing sight threw into sharp relief a wide twelve foot tall, hulking figure. Its granite gray skin, its coconut-like head perched clumsily on its shoulders and its thick short legs ending in flat horny feet, made it look more than anything like a giant boulder with limbs attached. Dragging along the floor was a great wooden club that was leaving foot-long scratches in the floor behind it.

Not daring to make a sound, they watched as the troll stuck its head inside a room trying to decide if it wanted to enter. After a moment or so, it entered, vanishing from sight.

"They key's in the door. We can lock it in," Harry whispered. He darted forward silently, Tallon and Ron close behind. They were about a yard from they door when Tallon realized what this room was, "No wait!" he hissed, but too late. Harry leapt forward, seized the key, slammed the door and locked it.

_"Yes!"_

"You idiots," Tallon spat at a confused and indignant looking Harry and Ron, "This is the girl's bathroom!"

Tallon had barely finished the sentence when a heart stopping scream issued form the room they'd just locked.

"Hermione!" Harry and Ron said together.

Ignoring the horrified looks on Harry and Ron's faces, Tallon sprang to the door, unlocked it and ran inside.

Hermione and Ebony were both cowering in terror against the opposite wall of the bathroom and the troll was advancing on them, knocking sinks off the walls as it went.

"Confuse it," Harry said desperately seizing a broken tap from the floor as Tallon and Ron darted forward. Harry threw the tap as hard as he could against the wall and the troll stopped a few feet from the pair of girls. It stumbled around blinking stupidly as it searched for the source of the noise. It saw Harry, hesitated for a moment and then made for him instead, lifting its club as it lumbered toward him.

"Oy! Pea Brain!" Ron yelled from the other side of the chamber, throwing a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't seem to notice as the pipe hit it square on the shoulder but it looked around at the noise. Harry took advantage of the troll's inattentiveness and ran towards Ebony and Hermione, while Tallon continued to distract the troll by hurling splintered stall fragments at it.

Ebony seemed to be recovering from the shock, but Hermione wouldn't budge. Tallon saw Harry and Ebony struggling to get her moving but she was still staring at the troll opened mouthed.

The troll seemed to be loosing its mind from all the shouting and loud noises. It dropped it's club, fastened it's massive hands around an entire toilet, and after a moments struggle, lifted it out of the floor with a terrible crack of stone and metal. The ensuing torrents of water and debris sent Tallon, Ron, Harry, Ebony and Hermione running for cover. Tallon saw through a cloud of dust, the troll, raising the toilet high over its head and taking aim at Ebony, Harry and Hermione, who were nearest and all stumbling in the wreckage of the bathroom.

Tallon extricated himself from a ruined stall, took careful aim with his magnifying eyes around the troll's arm and raised his wand, _"Flipendo!"_

As the dislodged toilet soared at Harry, Ebony and Hermione, Tallon's well aimed spell collided with it in mid air. It flew off course, crashing harmlessly against the opposite wall and falling to the floor in a heap of marble fragments.

The troll, enraged and confused, turned in the direction of the spell and saw Tallon. It retrieved its club and made directly for him, but suddenly it stopped. Harry had made a running jump at it and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind and Tallon saw, stuck up one of the troll's nostrils was a long thin wooden stick; Harry's wand.

Howling in pain the troll flailed and twisted, swinging its club wildly. Tallon and the others watched in awe as Harry clung onto the troll's neck for dear life as it stumbled around the wrecked bath room. Ron drew his own wand and cried the first spell that came to his mind, _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_

The troll's club rose out of its hand and high into the air, before turning over and falling with a sickening crunch onto its owner's head. The troll swayed for a moment and then fell flat on its face to the floor, making the whole bathroom tremble.

Tallon, still standing next to the mass of debris where he had cast his spell, looked down at the troll, trying to steady his breathing. Harry got his feet, out of breath and shaking. Ron was still standing with his wand up, staring open mouthed at what he had done. Ebony, coughing slightly in the dust, stepped forward and Hermione, her voice a little shaky, said, "Is it dead?"

"I think it's just knocked out," said Harry.

"Oh, good," Ebony said sarcastically, "After all, why would we want it dead? It juts tried to crush us."

Tallon laughed softly.

Harry stepped over the troll and extracted his wand from its nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy gray glue.

"Urgh – troll boogies."

Harry wiped it off on the troll's trousers.

Suddenly, becoming aware of their surroundings again, they heard hurried foot steps outside the bathroom. And a moment later, Professor McGonagall came through the threshold closely followed by Snape and Quirrell. Quirrell took one look at the scene, let out a faint whimper and sat down on a toilet clutching his heart. Snape Bent over the troll while Professor McGonagall rounded on them.

"What on earth do you think your doing?" she said, looking angrier than Tallon had ever seen her, "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitories?"

Nobody answered her. Ron was still holding his wand up. Then Hermione spoke, "Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me?"

Professor McGonagall's eyes flashed at Hermione, "Miss Granger!?"

Hermione had gotten to her feet at last, "I went looking for the troll – I'd read about them and thought I could handle it."

Ron dropped his wand. For a moment everybody looked at Hermione in amazement, then they hastily tried to cover up their surprise.

"If Harry, Ron, Ebony and Tallon hadn't come looking for me, I'd probably be dead. There was no time to call for anybody, Professor, the troll was about to finish me when they arrived."

Every one waited on tender hooks so see how McGonagall would take this story. At last, she said, "Well – in that case…" she broke off, "Still, Miss Granger, it was foolish of you, thinking you could tackle a fully grown mountain troll on your own. Five points from Gryffindor for your seriously disappointing lack of judgment."

Hermione hung her head as Professor McGonagall turned to Tallon, Harry, Ebony and Ron, "As for the rest of you, I still say you were lucky. Not many first years could have taken on a fully grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. You'll each win you're houses…" Tallon saw Ebony look hopefully at Professor McGonagall, "five points a piece." Ebony looked slightly crest-fallen. "Now, if none of you are hurt, I suggest you make your way back up you your common rooms. Students are finishing the feast in their houses. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this."

They left the wrecked bathroom together and made their way up stairs. None od them spoke for a while, but finally Ron said, awkwardly, "Thanks for covering up for us."

"You're welcome," said Hermione sighing.

"Thanks for rescuing us." Ebony said earnestly.

"Any time," Tallon said brightly.

"Sorry for locking you in with that thing," Harry said apologetically.

"Eh, it's alright," Ebony said easily, "besides," she added with a sly grin, "We'd have missed the fun of knocking the troll out other wise, wouldn't we?"

They all laughed and from that moment on, Tallon, Ebony, Hermione, Harry and Ron became friends, but…

Tallon caught Ebony's eye. They look at each other steadily but awkwardly. Then Ebony grinned and Tallon grinned back. They had reached a silent agreement not to discuss it.

Tallon walked along with his new companions, and Tyera, currently finishing the Halloween Feast with the Slytherins, was not given a single thought in his mind.


	10. Chapter 10: Madame Custos's Reply

Volume One, Chapter Ten: Madame Custos's Reply

Before the incident with the Halloween troll, Tallon could not have believed he would ever be happy at Hogwarts. But now that he was friends with Harry, Ebony, Hermione and Ron, he found he was enjoying self more than he would have ever thought possible.

Never before had he had a group of friends that he could spend time with, ask for advice, eat with or work together with on home work. Even merely being in their presence was enjoyable. Tallon was surprised by how comfortable he felt around his new companions. He had always relished the times he had to himself more than the times he was with the other orphans at back at the Orphanage. Tallon could not have explained it even to himself why he felt this way, but he did not spend too much thought on it.

"And why should you?" asked Ebony, as she, Tallon, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together in the court yard one nippy weekend afternoon. "If you waste time thinking about why you enjoy some thing, you'll end up not enjoying it at all."

Hermione had conjured a bright blue fire to keep them all warm and Ebony's cat Wicked was striding serenely along the top of a nearby hedge, peering down at them with a magisterially indifferent look that only a cat would wear. Tallon was watching the cat thoughtfully as it curled its tail luxuriously around its front legs.

"That's not true," Ron supplied, thoughtfully, "The more I think about Quidditch, the more I like it!"

"I meant," Ebony went on, barely concealing her annoyance at Ron, "You should just enjoy yourself if you can."

Harry, who was immersed in a book called "Quidditch through the Ages", looked up. "Well, I need to think about Quidditch while I can. I'll be playing it for the first time tomorrow." Harry, who had apparently made quite an impression on Professor McGonnogal the day they had all had their first flying lesson, had been made seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She had even personally sent him a top of the line Nimbus 2000 racing broom, which had made Malfoy go red with jealousy. The first Quidditch match of the season was tomorrow and it would be against Slytherin. Most of the school was exhibiting a high interest in the upcoming match, and indeed some, especially members of the concerned houses, were showing blatant animosity for their enemies in the pre-game hype.

Ebony for one, who turned to Harry and said seriously, "That's different, Harry. You _need_ to think and learn all you can about Quidditch so that you can win. Any way you can beat the Slytherins is fine be me!"

Tallon, who had not really been listening, said "No harm ever came from thinking about some thing," while he twirled his wand over and over in his fingers and stared lazily up at the sky, his back against the courtyard wall.

"Tallon," Ebony leaned closer to him, a half scrutinizing half patronizing look on her face, "You think too much."

"I get that a lot," Tallon replied sighing resignedly. What he did not say was that Ebony had just reminded him forcefully of another friend he once had, who had made that very same criticism many times. Tallon's insides squirmed uncomfortably at this thought, though he tried not to allow the feeling to appear on his face.

"Well, if you really want some thing to think about," said Hermione brightly, sitting on the bench right in front of Tallon with a heavy book in her lap, "you could work on your transfiguration homework."

"Ugh, Hermione," groaned Ebony, "why do we have to work on it now? It's not due until Tuesday."

"Yeah," agreed Ron, "The first quidditch match of the season is this weekend, why should we work on it?"

Apathy towards doing homework was one of the only things that Ron and Ebony agreed on. They both looked defiantly at Hermione who fixed them in turn with her characteristic look of bossy disapproval.

"It's best to stay on top of things!" She exclaimed as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, who knows how much home work we'll get assigned on Monday?"

Ron locked glum. However Ebony put on an "I know you're right but I don't care," expression and said ostentatiously, "Do as you will, Hermione, but I am not working on my transfiguration home work today." At that moment Wicked leapt lightly from her hedge perch, and allowed Ebony to scratch her behind the ears.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders indignantly and returned to her book. For some reason, Tallon felt sympathetic to Hermione at this moment. He wasn't sure why, but he was bored and felt he should get his home work done anyway, so he sat up and said "I'll work on that Transfiguration home work with you if you like, Hermione."

"Oh, thank you Tallon," she said earnestly.

Suddenly there was a haughty snort. Tallon looked around and saw a smug look on Ebony's face, though she wasn't looking at Tallon and Hermione.

"Never mind her," Tallon whispered, "let's do that homework."

Tallon and Hermione had been at there homework for 10 minutes when Snape suddenly appeared in the courtyard. As soon as his glass eyes caught sight of Snape, Tallon realized that he was limping. The five of them swiftly blocked Hermione's conjured fire from view, for they were not entirely sure they were allowed to have it. However Snape strode towards them; his blacks eyes seeming to scan them for an excuse to reprimand them.

"What's that you've got there, Potter?" he asked abruptly.

Harry held up the book he was reading, "Quidditch through the Ages."

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," Snape snapped, snatching the book from Harry's hand, "Five points from Gryffindor."

"I know the school rules like the back of my hand, at that is not one of them," Ebony said firmly as Snape limped away.

"I wonder why he's limping." Harry said thoughtfully.

"Dunno, but I hope it's really hurting him!" Ron said bitterly.

Tallon stared after Snape, lost in thought. A slight suspicion arose in his mind as he remembered that he, Harry and Ron had seen Snape marching purposefully through the corridors the night the troll got in. But Tallon put it out of his mind. He was very keen to avoid trouble from now on. His adventures since he had started at Hogwarts had had unfortunate results on the whole; with the exception of the troll leading to his four current friendships. Still, Tallon was perfectly content to mind his own business for the time being.

On the morning of the Quidditch match, Tallon made his way downstairs into the common room, which still looked slightly warped from Tallon's memory of it. It was still semi-circular with blue and bronze curtained windows and an arched star-spangled ceiling, just like he had found it on the morning he had written his letter to Madame Custos. To Tallon's slight bewilderment, none of the other Ravencalws seemed to be taking any notice.

In fact, when Tallon had finally decided to ask Richard Ryfferis about the mysterious renovations, he responded, "What are you talking about Tallon? This is how the common room has always been."

Tallon looked around at the unfamiliar furniture, walls and decorations in bemusement. Eventually, he said, "Are you sure?"

Tallon thought he had unwittingly inflected some derogation in his question, for Richard said sternly, "Tallon, this is my fifth year at Hogwarts. I know what my own house common room looks like."

"Of course," Tallon replied apologetically, "never mind."

Tallon's involvement with the Halloween troll had done nothing to change his status among the Ravenclaws; not that Tallon had expected it or wanted it to. Most seemed to regard it as nothing more than a fluke that all five of those stupid little first years survived the encounter and knocked out the troll to boot. Tallon had a minor suspicion that some of the Ravenclaws would not have minded at all if the troll and squashed him into jelly. Indeed Cho Chang had been avoiding Tallon as though he had a highly contagious case of Dragon Pox, ever since he had set her hair on fire by accident.

Tallon didn't mind his solitary stigma. But still, it was a little lonely, having to wait every day until classes or meals or breaks to get to talk to people with whom you were on friendly terms with.

So it was that nobody noticed Tallon as most of the Ravenclaws made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Even though Ravenclaw would not be playing in the upcoming game, the excitement was still such that people paid him even less attention than usual. When Tallon reached the Great Hall, he tried to catch the eye of his friends, through the uproarious chatter of the Gryffindor table. Eventually, Ebony and he exchanged a friendly wave and Tallon sat to eat.

Soon the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams left the hall to change and Tallon saw Harry looking very nervous and clutching his new Nimbus 2000 like a lifeline. Tallon was just about finished with his scrambled eggs, when an owl landed neatly on the table in front of him. Tallon stared. This wasn't an owl post day, who had sent him a special owl and for what? But as he looked at the owl more closely, he realized with an uncharacteristically dreadful rush, that is was the very same tough eagle owl that Tallon had used to send his letter to Madame Custos.

Tallon looked around surreptitiously, then, hesitating, untied the letter from the owl's leg. Sure enough, there was Madame Custos's signature on the parchment. From some where in the depths of his mind, it seemed, there rose up a tidal wave of panic and desperation, threatening to drown Tallon if it fell. The letter trembled in his hands as Tallon held it. There could only be one thing that this letter was about, but he could not face it, he would not.

All around him, students were rising from their seats, scrambling outside in their anticipation. Tallon remained seated in a state of semi consternation, Madame Custos's letter apparently holding him still, immobile and helpless. For Tallon, nothing in the world existed but this letter, this wretch of a message that had come to remind him of his past. But he could not escape it, he had to confront it.

Tallon came to himself. He was surrounded by people who had not a care in the world, all milling excitedly out of the Castle for what; to watch a Quidditch match?

Tallon sprinted through the crowd and back up the Marble Staircase, his grip on Madame Custos's letter vice-like. The Castle was deserted; everybody was going outside to watch the match. He had not stopped sprinting when he reached Ravenclaw tower and he did not want to stop. At the end of Archimedes's corridor, he screeched the password, "MULTIFARIOUS!" so that Archimedes could open the portrait and allow Tallon to enter at top speed.

"Alright, alright! The common room's not going any where, you know."

He flew through his painting and Tallon vaulted after him at once, through the autumn sunlit hedges, into the tunnel and finally the common room. It was (Tallon thought absurdly), just as Archimedes said, right where he had left it mere minutes ago.

Tallon stood in the middle of the deserted common room, panting and holding the slightly crumpled letter at his side. Slowly he looked down and raised it to waist height. With a fear in his heart and a trepidation in his mind equal to one preparing to jump into and abyss, Tallon opened Madame Custos's letter and read.

_Dear Tallon,_

_Thank you for writing back to me at last. I was beginning to think that you'd forgotten in all the excitement and fun you must be having at Hogwarts. But your letter made it clear enough that that was not the case. I'm deeply sorry to hear that you and Tyera were separated like this. The two of you have been best friends since you were infants. But remember Tallon, this separation is nothing but a different label. It does not change who you really are, and some one who is truly changed by what others think of them does not have strong character. So long as you and Tyera are still friends and want to be friends, nothing should stop you from doing so. If other students have a problem with the two of you being friends, you shouldn't pay them the slightest attention; it's their problem not yours. You and Tyera need each other as friends. Friendship is an invaluable thing, Tallon. Don't abandon it lightly. I sincerely hope that everything turns out well for you and Tyera and you remain friends for a long time._

_Love,_

_Madame Custos_

_P.S. Don't forget your academics!_

Tallon stared at the letter intently but not really comprehending it, as though it had not been written in English. The more he read it, the less it made sense. It seemed as though Madame Custos did not really understand the situation. This separation of houses wasn't just a label; it was a distinction of character. Tyera had always been a Slytherin, but not officially, she didn't want to be Tallon's friend anymore. Madame Custos's advice was useless because Tyera didn't need him; she had made that perfectly clear. Madame Custos was just like Ebony. Neither of them understood; neither of them could see that Tyera was a Slytherin at heart and that she had misled Tallon all their lives.

In some dormant part of his mind, Tallon knew that he had not known about the meaning of Tyera's and his visions until after he had sent the letter, and that he had not even mentioned the encounter with the Mirror of Erised. But that part of his mind was not in control; and that part of his mind was not presiding when Tallon, still standing, crushed Madame Custos's letter in his hands and hurled it with all his might into the empty fire place.


End file.
